Bad Romance
by HaveNoMercy
Summary: Tollie, with a side of Clois. What could've happened if Oliver had gone to see Tess months after Salvation, knowing she'd saved the world? Post-Season 9 Fic...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I'd be USING them together.

Title: Bad Romance

Rating: NC-17 for sexual situations

Genre: Tess/Oliver Romance, Drama, Angst

Verse: Smallville, Post Episode, AU (sorta)

Spoilers: Toxic, Committed, Turbulence, Bulletproof, Power, Requiem, Savior, Echo, Crossfire, Checkmate, Hostage, Salvation

Summary: What could've happened if Oliver had gone to see Tess months after Salvation, knowing she'd saved the world? **There's no Granny Goodness, Darkseid, or Season 10 in this universe!**

Feedback: Of course!

XxX

**Chapter 1**

Her life felt less ruled by her father. Somehow she hadn't ever put together that he'd caused her pain. A therapist would've put that together instantly, but she preferred not to view her life as one of a victim. But today, as she finished typing her document and stood up, she felt a little less restrained by his power.

"Tess?"

She looked up, her eyes widening slightly when she saw him.

"Oliver?" she asked.

"Hey," he said, walking in slowly, a hint of cautiousness in his stride. He noticed the mild, healing burn marks on her face.

"Is it really you?" she asked, not trusting her own mind after all Maxwell Lord had done.

"Meaning?"

She shook her head. "Never mind." She stepped out from behind her desk. "Are you okay? Clark told me Chloe went to find you after you disappeared."

"I'm good. Got my ass kicked but that's nothing I'm not used to." He paused, looking at her attentive but confused face, so he continued. "I just got back into town yesterday, Chloe's staying in Star City for awhile but uh…Clark filled me in on what happened with Zod and the end of the world, and you."

He reached up to turn her face slightly, acquiring a better look at her healing face. She worked to let him, but between the guilt and the humiliation, she turned her face away after a few seconds.

"Yes, well, after seven months of treatment, it's amazing what a difference time can make. I know you can still tell, but trust me, it's a good thing Zod's gone."

She stepped back, looking down at her desk and Oliver that knew all Clark had said was true, minus the part about knowing who Tess was…or who she had been several years ago.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"You just said Clark told you."

"Clark wasn't there."

Tess smiled a brave smile, faking strength. "I tried to save the world - or Clark at least. I took kryptonite to the fortress and tried to kill Zod with it. I failed and he burned me. I woke up in the hospital and I told Clark how to stop him."

Oliver's eyes closed but Tess could barely focus on him. The desk wasn't giving her sufficient space from him.

"Look, Oliver, I think it's really…admirable of you to come and check on me but I'm not entirely sure what this is so if you want me to do something, I'd be really grateful if you'd just tell me what that is."

He'd never seen her uncomfortable around him. More than that it was like she was almost afraid of what he'd say. That was the last thing he'd expected. He always expected her to yell at him, threaten him with her piercing green eyes and frankly terrify him a little. What he was getting was a woman who seemed so much smaller than her 5'11 form, someone who did seem like she'd been burned by a super-human being, shattered and depleted by a life more powerful than her own.

And like someone whose life had been threatened by the man she loved.

"I'm not here to ask anything of you. I just wanted to see the woman who saved the world."

There was a look in her eyes he recognized. It was that *you're-so-full-of-shit* look.

"Oh yes," she replied sarcastically. "Right after being the one who helped put it at risk, right?"

She pulled a file off her desk and gave it to him.

"Here's an update. I know the company matters to you more than you let on."

He took the file and looked back at her, unintentionally forcing her eyes away from him.

"Listen, I never knew if I'd see you again, and I certainly never knew if you'd say anything civil to me. So regardless of if it means anything to you, I'm not angry anymore for what happened all those years ago. I know that it should've taken me a lot less time to let it go, but I don't look at you anymore and think about it. I understand now. I understand because when I kidnapped you, it had nothing to do with hurting you. It didn't even really have anything to do with hurting Green Arrow. Checkmate was going to kill me and I was scared for my life. I made a really poor decision and it cost me something I cared about, it cost me you. So that's how I know what it was like for you when you slept with someone else. I thought it was about me, but it wasn't in the way that I'd thought. And by the time I finally let it go, I destroyed any feeling you had left for me."

She tucked her hair behind her ear.

"It took me a lot of time and a lot of unforgivable mistakes, but maybe someday you can see what I finally saw. Realize what I finally realized about you."

He gave her a small smile. "I figure out revelations pretty quickly."

She nodded, and he saw that she was trying to believe him.

"Tess?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I do this to you or did Zod?"

"Do what?"

"This," he said, motioning his hand between them. "I want you confident and strong, like you usually are." He stepped up to her. "I know I said horrible things to you - things I never should have said - at a time when you were scared and needed someone, but I am really proud of what you did, and what you're trying to do. And it's more, honestly, than a lot of things I've done. I was angry, more than just at you, and you were the one I took it out on. But I still want you to be who you are."

She exhaled a laugh. If only he knew how ridiculous that was now. She felt even less powerful when he took her face in his hand and guided it towards his.

"You're making it harder," she whispered, placing her hand on his wrist.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said gently.

"My skin's burned now, Oliver. It's-"

"So what? Do you think that matters? It changes nothing."

He kissed her once, gently, feeling her take in a breath. Her hand instantly went to his chest, bracing herself against him. He pulled back before she felt the need to push him off. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at him. She hated seeing what she used to think about on a constant basis.

He left her for a second and went to the door of her office, shutting it and locking it. She wasn't unfamiliar with him doing that, but she'd lost her ability to feel empowered by a physical connection with him.

"Oliver, while I suppose I should be flattered you're locking the door to have sex with me in my office, I'm really going to have to ask you to look elsewhere. I'm not up for creating any sexual confusion between us."

By the time she'd finished her sentence he was in front of her again. He took her hand and pulled her into his arms.

"This isn't about sex," he whispered, lowering his mouth to hers.

She felt him absolutely take her over in the embrace, his arms containing all of her in their kiss, and somewhere in the back of her mind, behind the love she felt for him, she remembered a woman who was once fierce and strong. She remembered a woman who would kiss him back, whose arms would confidently go up his defined back; but now she simply let him consume her.

She felt very out of her body, extremely disconnected. She could tell that it felt good, that he felt good, but more than anything it was strange and confusing that he would do this. Why was he holding her? He wasn't attacking her, tearing her clothes off and throwing her to the floor. He was just kissing her, really desperately. Was it desperate? She was so fucked up that she was barely experiencing it.

His hand went to her scarred cheek and for an instant she forgot how she now saw herself. His tongue opened her mouth and aggressively licked her teeth, moving to caress her lips and then he sighed into her mouth. His hand had wrapped around the back of her head and he'd finally taken an instant to catch his breath before continuing. She didn't feel connected to herself enough to be as overwhelmed as she should've been as he came at her, tasting her lips. She pulled back.

"Wait."

"Why?"

She didn't really have very far to back up as she realized that she'd already been leaning back against her desk. Looking at her, he almost felt as if he were seeing a completely different person. He hadn't seen her so…so human, so _**before**_ she'd become the most powerful person in the world in a long time.

"I haven't understood a single thing you've said since you walked in the door. What are you doing? Why are you in the same room with me, let alone laying a hand on me?" She covered her eyes with her hands in confusion.

"Tess," he said comfortingly.

She returned her eyes to him. "Is it because I slept with you before? And you think it'd be easy? I'm not available any time Lois or Chloe breaks up with you."

"I know that. If I thought that I'd buy someone a drink at a bar. I'm here because of you."

She just stared at him in disbelief.

"Okay, now you're just making me feel bad," he smiled.

"I-I'm not trying to be anything, or make you angry, I just don't understand. If you said you forgave me, I'd just be…shocked. But I don't know what you're doing. What happened to you?"

He laughed softly. "Why are you acting like you've never met me? And you know enough about what happened to me."

She looked at him like he was crazy for asking her. "Stop acting like I'm the one who's insane. When was the last time we were civil to each other?"

"Hey, it takes two to be civil. You're doing half the work. Clark told me what happened. I don't want this to be the same as last time. I want it to be different for us."

What the hell was he talking about? Different than when? "Did you take something before you came here?"

She wasn't significantly less confused when his mouth was on hers again, when his hands went to her throat and tilted her face upwards. She didn't know why, maybe because he was there, maybe because it felt good, but she opened her mouth and kissed him back, but the second she did she remembered Zod and submitting herself to him.

"I just can't handle any more right now," she said to him. "I can't take anything else."

"I know," he agreed. "I feel the same way."

"And you walked through _**my**_ door?"

"Tess, you haven't talked this much in your entire life. Shut up."

He pulled her off the desk and she couldn't help but think that he was incredibly stupid to come near her. Didn't he know how lethal she was? She swore to herself that if he hurt her again she'd blow his head off. _**Logical, Tess.**_ _**Way to stay in the light of the sanity that you've worked so hard to get back to.**_ Everything was slow, easy, cerebral. His mouth kissed her harder, and he lightly dragged his teeth over her upper lip before sucking it into his mouth. She clenched her eyes and gasped against his mouth at the sudden jolt of pleasure cycling through her. Leaning against him for the first time, she reached her hand up to his face but his hands were faster and he pushed her jacket off her shoulders.

Tess bit her lip as he ran his mouth along her jawline, down her neck. Flashes emerged behind her closed eyes, flashes he projected into her, convincing her of things that she knew were untrue. He was good at that, so good at that that sometimes she believed he was the one who taught her how to do that, not Lex. And the images, along with his touch, were almost too much. She felt her mouth drop open when he slowed his pace and then quickened it again, making the liquid heat in her lower stomach nearly reach a boiling point. Her fingers reached for his shirt, his tongue brutally refusing to leave her mouth.

When her hands touched his chest, she broke the kiss, looking down.

"It was real," she whispered brokenly, seeing the deep scar expanding over his torso. "He did it to you," she said.

Her eyes closed in shame.

"Hey," Oliver said, tipping her face back up.

"It's my fault."

"I fought him and he won. Clark was the only one who had a chance against him. It's no one's fault but Zod's."

Tess shook her head. "No, I-I empowered him, I encouraged-"

He kissed her forehead. "Don't," he told her. "He's gone; let him go."

She touched his face but kept her eyes shut, painfully aware of all that she'd brought down on everyone.

"I mean it," he said. "Let him go, not just for this moment, but for your future. You can't let him be with you forever. He can't be a plague on your life. He has nothing on you, not really. So don't let anything he did to me weigh you down. Please."

She knew she had never had a constant in her life. She knew any strength she had was always something she'd found in herself, but the little Clark had given her when he'd saved her wasn't sustaining her in everyday life, despite the fact that she'd put entirely every ounce of her faith in Clark. She'd been a child the last time she'd had any faith in Oliver, but that didn't mean she couldn't let his words bring her up from the ground she felt completely swallowed in.

She trembled from the tension and anger inside her system, attempting to release it. A lifetime of pain and complete fucked-up-ness was hard on her body. Oliver's lips rained soft kisses along her forehead, turning her head slightly so that he could reclaim her mouth as she exhaled.

The second she kissed him back, he pulled her from where she was standing and in her complete haze, he brought her swiftly to the floor. Maybe he had projected an entire world into her mind, but no matter what he did, she loved him so much that she still didn't care. She liked the feeling of his body over hers, protecting her, covering her. She let his hands pull her blouse off, unhook her bra, and through the escalating dizziness she was enduring, she somehow managed to realize that those barriers were no longer between them.

His mouth traveled its way along her body, leaving a wet path behind, but he kept his focus on her face. When his lips moved their attention from her mouth she turned her face and sought them out again. His fingers dove blindly into her red hair as she reveled once again in the total adoration he bestowed upon her. He was winning the battle and to her it was relaxing that he was overwhelming her. He gently pushed her legs a little further apart, pushing into her as she gripped his face, rising up slightly.

"Oliver," she whispered urgently. "Doesn't…doesn't matter anymore what you think, or what you say. Nothing matters much anyway." She looked down, licking her lower lip. "But in my _**whole**_ life, there has only been one person."

She felt his breath on her lips, and then he kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth as he pushed himself into her. Rolling her back down on the floor, he pulled back just enough so he could speak.

"I love you," he said, and that was the last thing she remembered.

XxX

She didn't waste any time putting her clothes back on, which sincerely pissed him off. What part of 'wanting this to be different than last time' did she not understand?

"What are you doing?" he asked, lying naked beside her.

"My desk is over there," she replied.

He could tell by her response that she didn't believe in anything that he had said or what they had done. He rubbed his face in aggravation.

"How can you possibly be so stupid?" he asked.

She finished putting her blouse on and glared at him. "How can you possibly be such a traitorous bastard?" she shot back.

She started to stand up but he yanked her arm cruelly. She fought the urge to render him unconscious.

"Don't hold back on your hostility," he said through gritted teeth. Then he calmed himself. "Stop it, Tess. You've fought for everything you've ever had in your life, fight for me."

"You so don't want me to respond to that."

She was off the ground and out of his reach. Somehow, he thought having pants on before continuing to argue with her might be a good idea, though he remembered countless arguments they'd both had without clothes on. However, once he'd achieved his goal, he came up behind her, always enjoying the invasion of her personal space.

"Would you at least think about it? If we hadn't slept together, if we hadn't said anything, this wouldn't be an issue. You don't have to make it one."

She turned around and looked up at him. "How is it that you never fail to make every situation about how incredible you are? Believe me, no matter how many years I know you, it never gets charming."

He blocked her. "And I never stop hearing that." He reached for her and she flung his hand away. He grabbed her and she flinched. "Don't fight me!" he yelled at her. "You're angry with me again; that's progress. But it doesn't mean that I want you pulling away from me. Not believing me."

With surprising force she pushed him off of her.

"Look," she informed. "I don't know what the hell you really came in here for but if you think you can erase the words you said to me that night, you're mistaken. I can have a conversation with you. I can work with you. I can be in the same room with you. We can be where we were before Checkmate happened, but that's as far back as I can go."

Seeing the frustration in his eyes, she surrendered and gave in, if only for the purpose of shutting him up and getting him out of her office.

"I promise you that I will think about it."

"Your version of thinking about it is pushing me as far away from you as possible."

"Well that's all you get!"

He made fists with his hands, working hard not to connect them with her.

"I swear," he said to her. "It's a good thing you and I already disregard the law."

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She didn't make it to Oliver's penthouse. She was on her way and had to stop into the Ace of Club's bathroom and managed to dash into the stall before throwing up violently for the first time in two years. As soon as she did, her forehead and upper lip broke out in a sweat and she wished she had a best friend to hold her hair back. Feeling the rise in the back of her throat she leaned over the bowl again, barely hearing the bathroom door open.

After what seemed like an eternity, her body gave her a break and she rested her elbow on the toilet seat.

"Tess?"

Shit. So much for not having time to shut her own bathroom stall door. An amused smirk emerged from the bitch's face.

"Did you get drunk last night or did you just forget how to use a condom?"

Tess glared at Lois and stood up, flushing the toilet as she turned around. She walked over to the sink where Lois tried not to enjoy herself too much and she splashed water on her face.

"Not used to a hangover?"

"I know it might be a rare moment in time for you, Lois, but try to refrain from enjoying this."

Tess sighed, relaxing her stomach muscles.

"I would assume you know. Is Oliver at his penthouse?"

Lois started to answer, but her brain was too fast for her own good. She glanced at the stall, then at Tess's exhausted form. Why would Tess ask her where Oliver was? She would never actually walk to his penthouse to see him, never in Lois's memory. Why the hell would Oliver give Tess the time of day?

"No," Lois answered calmly. "Not right now. He's probably off saving someone, you know."

Tess nodded. "Yeah, green leather, arrows, I got it. Fine. Lovely running into you as always."

XxX

Oliver walked through the double doors of Tess's great room, knocking gently on one of them to alert her of his presence.

"Hey," he said. "Lois said she saw you and something was up."

Tess rose from the couch. "I swear, I'm going to kill her one of these days."

Oliver found her redhead's temper humorous. "She said you were looking for me."

Tess looked down.

"It's been two weeks. Have you thought about what I said?" he asked.

She walked up to him, seeing his face completely full of hope. "Oliver, I'm pregnant. By you, in case that's not evident. And at first I thought that that was just the most insane thing on earth because…I'm not, and you're not, and _**we're**_ definitely not. But I thought about it, and I've never had anything of my own, anything to love. And so for a moment, just so you wouldn't have to deal with me and I wouldn't have to deal with you, I thought about getting rid of it. It'd be easier, but it's a part of us, Oliver, and something I can hold onto, something I can live for."

He was going to respond but she kept going.

"So I want to leave the country. I want you to let me leave and let me raise this child on my own. And I know that's asking a lot. I know. I know I've done horrifying things to you, to everyone, but you know I would never let anyone hurt my child." She closed her eyes, actually feeling her baby inside her even though she knew that it wasn't possible yet. She hated that this was the second time she'd had to beg him, but begging for a life away from all the destruction she'd been surrounded by meant so much more to her now than simply her life alone. "I will let this baby be the light I could never find before. I won't let the darkness take over me again. Just—just don't take this away from me. This is everything. This is all I've got."

"Come here," he said, pulling her into his arms. He felt her attempts to resist crying, so he kissed her forehead, cupping her face. "I think this is wonderful," he said into her ear, and his kindness still felt completely foreign and absurd to her. "I know you want to start over and leave everything behind, but I don't want you to go. I meant what I said about being with you, and I won't take the baby from you."

She placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled back to look at him. "You say that now. But you know what'll happen. We'll kill each other. I'll do something or you'll do something and you'll want to take it from me and we'll rip each other to shreds."

"We'll work it out," he assured her.

"We've _**never**_ worked it out," she reminded him.

"We made the baby!"

"That is so exactly what you would say."

"I love you."

"You _**don't**_ really," she shot back.

"Try to come outside of your own head, Tess."

"Oh, like you and your libido?"

She stressed him out like crazy. "Let's not fight two minutes after you tell me you're pregnant."

"You're right; let's end this, and I will go."

"Forget it. Give me a chance. I know you have no reason to, but you wouldn't have slept with me if you didn't care."

"And how long are you going to use that fact against me?"

"Stay."

He leaned into kiss her and she pulled back with vehemence.

"Don't! Don't kiss me right now."

"You're mad at me because you're pregnant?"

"Just don't."

"Alright," he agreed. "Let me take you to dinner. Please. Let's start there. They're waiting and I want you to come with me so that I can start having you in my life with the people I care about."

"They?"

"Yeah, Lois and Clark."

Her face crumbled. "You want me to go to dinner with you and two people that hate me? That's your way of getting me to want to stay?"

"They don't hate you. Or they won't after tonight. Tess, we'll tell them about the baby, we'll tell them about us. I want them to know more about you than-"

"Than what? The completely psychotic killer they both think I am? You think they'll be overjoyed? I've made a little progress with Clark, but I'm not sitting down with him for an entire meal."

He nodded. "Yes you are. It's never going to get better unless you listen to me."

"No," she said simply. "You were last with Lois's beloved cousin, Clark's best friend. Even if I'm not the root of all evil in both of their minds, presenting me to them isn't a good idea."

He took her hand and began dragging her to the door.

"Just cooperate. It'll be really uncomfortable and then it'll be over."

"Sex with you wasn't anywhere _**near**_ worth any of this."

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~

-I love Lois and Tess's relationship. After writing this, I understood how much fun these characters are to play with. Erica and Cassidy are incredible and then the added bonus of the first two female characters on Smallville (in my opinion) who really don't back down when faced with another strong person, THANK YOU! This was such a fun fic to write. I let go of a lot of boundaries with Tollie that other couples have had, because of the boundaries that the _**characters**_ have had…and Lois and Tess, how much more kick-ass can it get? *grins*


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

He left her at the table and went to greet them at the entrance of the restaurant. Not surprisingly, they were disagreeing about something. He intervened.

"Hey, fighting twins!" Oliver interjected, gaining Clark's attention.

"Oliver!" Clark said, turning Lois forcefully towards their friend.

Lois leaned into embrace him.

"Hey, sweetie," she smiled.

"Hey, legs. Listen, I have an announcement. Come to the table and we'll talk about it. I didn't come alone."

Clark curiously followed Oliver and Lois hoped to God that what she was thinking wasn't what was about to happen. All hopes vanished when she saw Tess's red hair. Clark and Lois stood across from Tess as Oliver placed his hands on Tess's shoulders.

"Tess?" Clark asked.

"Believe me, I wouldn't have inflicted this on any of us but your friend insisted I join you."

"She's pregnant; we're having a baby," Oliver announced happily.

"What?" Clark demanded as Lois covered her eyes with her hand.

Tess looked up at Oliver. "Well thought out," she told him.

"And I know as good of friends as you are to me that you will be _**completely**_ supportive of both her and me," Oliver stated deliberately.

"Oh, I'm sure," Tess nodded.

"Shhh," Oliver said. "It's not as shocking as you might think. We were together a long time ago. We have a history."

"Oliver," Clark said, aware of that bizarre fact. "She…"

"Look, I know what happened and I know how we all felt. But I know who she is, far better than any of you and I am asking you to give her a chance for me. Please."

Pleading for mercy was not something Tess ever wanted to do and she would've rather been burned again than be begging someone to give her a chance like this. It was humiliating and degrading. She didn't need their damn pity. Oliver's hands remained on her shoulders, no doubt to hold her in the fucking chair and she felt more and more angry at him for keeping her here. On some level she knew he wanted to make Metropolis better for her, but she wanted to leave everything behind and take her child somewhere new. Still, she tried to breathe and wait for this humiliation to pass.

"Would you sit down and have dinner with us?" Oliver asked.

Clark looked at Tess and she looked back at him with a look of hope. Lois, despite her absolute disgust for Tess, wanted to stand by Oliver.

"If the martini's big enough," she said, pulling up a chair.

"Let's not order drinks, she's pregnant."

Lois nodded hesitantly. "Okay, sure. That'll make it easier."

"So uh…how did you two meet?" Clark asked.

Oliver scooted his seat forward a little and looked at Tess, then at the couple across from him.

"We met on a deserted island. She saved my life with her expertise in marine biology."

"A marine biologist? Really? You didn't really leave that detail on your resume," Lois commented, purposely avoiding the 'deserted island' portion of Oliver's sentence so she wouldn't throw up.

Tess took a deep intake of breath and ignored Lois.

"Well, that's true," Oliver agreed. "Back then, she was quite-"

"Oliver," Tess warned, looking over at him slowly.

"What?" he asked, clueless as to what her warning could possibly mean, and then he continued. "Back then," he began again.

"Oliver!" she stressed.

He looked at her outraged face, and the four of them were silent until Oliver began to laugh at her.

"Why are you laughing? I am _**so**_ not laughing!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled, continuing to crack up.

"What?" she asked. "What is so damned funny?" she demanded, and for the first time Clark seemed interested in how their relationship worked.

"How annoyed you are," Oliver laughed.

"Oh really? You think it's funny? You think this entire situation is funny? I have a headache and I can't even take an aspirin!"

Clark looked at Lois and then bit his lower lip to contain his smile. When Tess's comment fueled Oliver's laughter she made a fist and slammed it on his hand.

"OW!"

He calmed himself and took her resisting hand.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said as sincerely as he could manage. He came towards her lovingly but she pulled away. "Anyway, we were both stranded on the island at the time when she saved my life. After she saved my life, we escaped the island and we fell in love."

Tess's eyes looked back and forth as if she were thinking otherwise. Clark and Lois didn't miss that.

"She's a little mad at me right now, though, so she might vary that story a little."

"And we never knew about this because?" Lois asked.

"Because I screwed it up," he replied. "And then I never saw her again, never heard about her, never knew what happened until she arrived here."

Tess took a large drink of her ice water, wishing it was vodka.

"Bet you were surprised," Lois gleamed.

"I didn't know we'd be revealing our entire history when we came out to dinner," Tess interrupted.

"Well, we only have to do it once," he replied optimistically.

She looked back at Lois and Clark and chose to speak precisely and briefly. "I didn't know Lex hated Oliver when I met him. I met him and I thought that he trusted me, but it was more than trust. I was stupid. Everyone knows that he never got over Lana. I believed in Lex. When I found out the truth, I merged Luthorcorp with Queen Industries."

"And you got rid of the camera," Clark said.

"What camera?" Oliver asked.

Tess winced.

"Lex surgically implanted a camera in her brain so he could see everything she saw. She told me," Clark said.

"You told Clark that?" Oliver asked Tess.

Tess couldn't believe Clark had said that.

"Clark, I realize that you may not be my biggest fan but were you not aware that I told you that in confidence?"

Clark, not having meant to reveal anything since he had a slightly better view of Tess these days, stuttered slightly. "I-I didn't know he didn't know."

"Why would you tell Clark that?" Lois demanded.

Tess saw the three pairs of eyes on her. "I-I was drunk." Okay, not the right thing to say.

"You got drunk with Clark?" Lois asked.

Tess never wanted a gun more in her life than she did at that moment.

"Wait, Lex put a camera in your head? When?" Oliver asked.

"I fell," Tess said, barely complying as she took another drink of water. She had no idea why she was agreeing to anything Oliver was subjecting her to, but she did her best to remain calm and answer the painfully personal questions anyway. "I fell soon after we first met and he took care of me while I was in the hospital. I didn't know that while I was in the hospital he implanted the camera so he could see and hear everything I did."

"How'd you find out about it?"

Tess's eyes widened at Clark. "_**Please**_," she begged him, and he nodded, agreeing to remain silent.

"Why does he know?" Oliver asked.

"Because he's the one that got me drunk." Tess didn't need to reveal the fact that she had been smarter than Clark in the end that day. She could still have some secrets.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Oh my God."

"Quiet," Oliver said to her. "So did you ever confront Lex?"

"No, I just gave you his company," she said defiantly.

"Ah!" he said, understanding. "Man, I am impressed at you completely resisting the urge to say thanks for fucking me over."

"Oh, I'm running out of energy to say that to men by now."

Oliver looked at his friends and laughed a fake laugh. "She's cute, isn't she?"

"Adorable," Lois answered sarcastically.

"She used to be sweet," Oliver whispered at them.

"Stupid, he means stupid," Tess said.

"Well, it's nice to know you have no bitterness," he commented, intentionally pushing her buttons.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Let's look at the menu," Clark suggested.

"Thank you," Tess agreed.

They ordered appetizers and Lois felt the curiosity eating at her. She resented Oliver for neglecting to tell her about Tess for over two years.

"So if we _**could**_ order drinks, what would you get?" Lois asked Tess, trying to discuss something non-confrontational.

"I used to like margaritas a lot. They remind me of the sea. I still make them now and then."

"With what?"

"Uh, maybe this isn't-" Oliver began just as Clark jerked his arm to shut him up.

"Are you kidding? Let them talk about whatever they want."

"Herradura Suprema tequila, Cuvée Speciale Cent Cinquantenaire, and you can use agave syrup with the lime juice."

Lois nodded once. "Yeah, we mere mortals use a mix and some ice. Not all of us had billionaire cash to fall back on."

Clark shook his head, loving Lois, but he wished that once in a while she would resist saying the first thought on her mind.

"I'm not a gold-digger, Lois. I've been screwed over by every man in my life since my father used to beat me until I was bleeding on the floor. Believe me, I didn't need Lex's money to be standing on my own two feet and I only wished I'd learned sooner that treating you badly isn't an indicator of strength."

Tess felt her stomach cramp up and a wave of nausea overtake her. Her hand went to her mouth.

"Excuse me," she whispered, getting up from the table and rushing to the ladies room.

Lois felt momentarily satisfied until she saw Oliver's look.

"What?" she asked innocently. "How is it my fault that _**you**_ got her pregnant and she's paying the consequences?"

"Lois," Clark said gently.

"I am asking you both for help here, and seriously, Lois, alcohol and insults is not the way!"

"You knew, didn't you?" Lois said to Clark. "You knew they had a past."

"It wasn't really that hard to piece together," he replied, now getting a little frustrated with her.

"Okay, you know what? I am so tired of the both of you and your macho, superhero crap. It's okay for you two to have your little pact together and whisper secrets of the past and present. Were you ever going to inform the 'little woman'?"

"He called out her name and asked me to save her, you were there!"

"Shut up!" Oliver shouted. "You two can have your little fight another time!"

"_**Our**_ fight?" Lois shot back. "Clark and I are in training compared to whatever you and she just displayed in front of us."

"Fine! I don't care right now. What I care about is you going and checking on her!"

She didn't even know how to respond. "Are you out of your god-fearing mind?"

"I mean it. Go in there, help her, and be nice."

"Why would I ever be nice to that murdering lunatic?"

"Because I asked you to. Because she wants to leave the country."

"So chain her to a wall, Oliver."

"Try and listen!" Oliver shouted. "I want her to _**want**_ to stay. So quit badgering her and help me!"

Lois exhaled, absolutely fuming. She shoved her chair back and stood up. "I am not here to comfort the ex-girlfriends of yours that you got pregnant when all she has done is endanger everyone I care about. However, I am not above helping you out when you need me. Don't order her any meat; she's already nauseous. I, on the other hand, will take a big, juicy, rare steak."

Lois exited the table with an impact.

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~

This was SO much fun to write! I loved having Lois be so heroic and yet absolutely irritating, especially to Tess. And of course Oliver, I loved the banter and the love he has for her, yet he's completely oblivious to her privacy. This was also my first story including Clois, where they were not the main characters. Writing Lois and Clark as more of a supporting cast was WEIRD. I love them but I love my Tollie just as much, so they deserve this. I actually adore this fic because I can see them doing it (or acting it) so I can't wait to post what's next, haha.

And P.S., I like my version BETTER than what they're writing, SHHHH.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Tess heaved, nausea raking through her body. Beads of sweat broke out over her upper lip and she held onto the sink waiting for the pain to ease up on her. Luckily, only one other woman was in the bathroom and she didn't seem to be paying any attention to her.

Lois entered the restroom but Tess was too busy breathing in and out to see her.

"You okay?" Lois asked.

Tess remained leaning over the counter but she looked up at the brunette.

"Wonderful," she replied grimly.

Lois tore a paper towel from the dispenser and handed it to Tess. The slightly taller woman took it reluctantly and stood up, wiping her mouth.

"Listen, I think it's cute that you came in here because you have a loyalty to Oliver, but I don't need-"

She was cut off by vomiting again, this time not making it to the stall, only managing to lean over into the sink. Her stomach was empty, but she still felt like she was being turned inside out.

"Oh no, you don't need anything," Lois mocked.

"You know what I don't need?" Tess shouted, not caring what she looked like or how she appeared anymore. "I don't need Oliver's charity! I don't need him keeping me here and trying to create some life for me that isn't even what he wants for himself in the first place! I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and this baby on my own and I don't need the three of you placing judgments and pity on me because Oliver betrayed me a lifetime ago. Zod _**burned**_ my skin off, Lois, and I am still here. I will not let Oliver take my child from me; I don't care if he did take a few minutes to be there when it was created!"

There came the nausea again and she threw herself at the sink.

"Ow," she cried.

"Okay, okay, okay," Lois said. "I got it, yeah yeah, Oliver's a jerk, you don't need him, fine. Guess what, he's not in the bathroom with us, so it doesn't matter at the moment. Just take deep breaths and stop bitching for a minute."

Lois turned the faucet on and used her hand to bring cool water to Tess's burning face. Women at that moment began filtering into the bathroom in large quantities.

"Here, get on the counter," Lois ordered, helping Tess up. "Now just relax." She looked at the small crowd of women. "Hey, move back. Give her some room, would you?"

When the ladies looked at her like she had an incredible amount of nerve, she retaliated immediately.

"What? You have a problem with that? Can't a pregnant lady get some space around here? Get out!"

Lois didn't mind getting looks of hatred if it got the job done. She locked the bathroom door behind them.

"I guess that's one way to do that," Tess said.

Lois dampened a paper towel and dabbed Tess's face and she tried to even her breaths.

"Are you in pain?" Lois asked. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No, I'm just nauseous and…uncomfortable."

"Yeah, well, he's out there, you're in here."

"You must…really care about him to be here, being nice to me."

"You know something? He and I were never meant to be, but it doesn't mean I don't care about him."

"He was your first love, though, wasn't he?" Tess asked her.

Lois paused. "Yeah, but I guess I wasn't his first love, was I?" She didn't expect Tess to reply and she didn't. "So how pregnant are you?"

"Two weeks."

"Seriously? Two weeks?"

"Yes."

"That's…hardly pregnant at all. And you're already throwing up like this? How long have you known?"

"Three days."

"And you're positive it's pregnancy?"

Tess's eyes held Lois's. "You think I would've endured _**that**_ dinner if I didn't have to?" Tess shuddered. "I don't want to go back out there."

Lois contemplated for a minute. "How do you feel about ice cream?"

Tess thought that was a strange question. "It's fine, I guess."

"Let's get in my car and we'll go get some ice cream at the best place in Metropolis. Or the best place that _**I**_ can afford. The men can fend for themselves."

"You brought your own car?"

"Uh hello, have we met?" Lois said, unlocking the door as Tess hopped off the sink. "You think I'd let Clark drive?"

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~

So first of all, writing Lois is incredibly difficult. Trying to write her humor and write her with Clark is unbelievably hard! But this was easy. Everything about this was easy, EXCEPT having Lois and Clark not being the center of attention. If there's audience enough to care about doing a part two, they will definitely end up having more of a storyline with Tollie, but I loved writing Lois. I always love writing her, and writing two strong women, neither one of them afraid of each other or giving in to each other is exciting.

I was not going to have Tess surrender, and hell no to Lois surrendering either. They are equals. But also be able to be a great strength and support system for each other. So, that's my thoughts on this chapter, *grins*.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Two weeks had passed and Tess felt a temporary weight lifted off of her. She and Oliver had been somewhat civil to each other, mostly because she had restricted their contact to a phone call conversation once a day and an occasional office meeting. She worked and attempted sleep, feeling strangely eased after her one social evening with Lois, and she hadn't been nauseous since. Her personal physician assured her she was perfectly healthy, so at this point, she didn't think about anything but getting to the next minute.

Just as she was about to head home for the evening, there was a knock on her office door. A strongly-built man stepped in.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm here to take you to the Queen Industries' jet, Ms. Mercer. Mr. Queen requests your presence."

She nodded, mildly amused as she put her jacket on. "I'm going home. Tell him he's very charismatic, though."

"I'll be blunt, ma'am, it's not exactly a request."

"Really?" she asked, un-intimidated. Then she saw him stare at her, unwavering. Tess rolled her eyes. "Jesus," she swore under her breath. "Where's he going?"

"I don't have that information."

She picked up her briefcase and her shoulders slumped. "Lead the way."

XxX

She stepped onto the plane and he sat there on his couch with that self-impressed happy look on his face, waiting for her.

"Welcome," he said.

She didn't bother asking where they were going or even fighting it. For the moment, she was playing along - with everything, with this idea that they would not throw tasers and knives at each other, that she could socialize with Clark and Lois, and that they could forget all that happened between them. He seemed to believe it all for some reason, he seemed to believe it the minute he wanted to, so while she did what she was doing on her own, she'd let him believe that she was going along with all of this.

She took off her heels and sat on the couch across from him.

"It's 7:30, so I'm assuming it's not a four hour trip."

He handed her a drink of something she wouldn't be able to identify before drinking it.

"You would be correct."

"What did you do, go through my drawers or buy things you want me to wear yourself?"

"Well, which of those two would make you less angry?"

"I appreciate the way you obfuscate the subject."

"It's just a question of personal safety."

"This is true, but the more I think about it, you and I in a small space, it's a very dangerous thing."

Her neck hurt from talking on the phone to six corporate assholes for five hours.

"You're the one that left the noble, safe life," he pointed out.

She wondered, even if she could ever believe in any real affection he might have for her, could she live a life as completely dark, addicting, exhausting and yet absolutely wonderful as the one she'd always felt when she was with him?

XxX

"Tess? Tess, wake up."

She opened her eyes in the completely comfortable bed, inside the beautiful room he'd provided her and she looked up at him.

"What?" she asked, still half asleep.

"It's time," he whispered.

"For what?"

"Your clothes are in the bathroom."

And then he quietly left. She threw the covers over her head. If he only knew the time it took her to actually fall asleep, he would've left her alone. Wasn't pregnancy supposed to make sleep easier? What in the hell made it necessary to get up first thing in the morning on a Saturday?

She rolled out of bed and mechanically took a shower, doing everything she did in a normal morning. She even found the clothes Oliver had put out for her; belted cargo pants and a graphic flutter tee. Interesting choice, were they going camping?

She walked out on to their adjoining balcony to where they were apparently going to have breakfast and he looked up from the Daily Planet.

"Whoa, time machine, what year is it?" he asked her.

_**Oh, is that what this outfit was supposed to represent?**_ she asked herself as she glanced down at her outfit for a moment. Vaguely, she remembered the years before corporate business outfits and the lush, lavish attire that Lex Luthor supplied her with. Looking back up at Oliver, she felt that he'd exposed a part of her she'd laid to rest a long time ago. She'd probably been happier in this role, but this role, this _**person**_had been the one who'd truly believed in the happy ending. When she'd finally let go of the dream of saving the world and simply looked out for herself, it was so much easier to pick herself up after falling.

"I don't need to fear child birth, Oliver," she said, pulling up a chair. "One of these days, you'll push me right over the edge."

She blinked a few times, slowly, trying to wake up. He pushed the tea to her and she smiled at how much she missed coffee.

"For someone who didn't get any sleep, you look beautiful."

"Yeah, it's not easy putting on make-up with your eyes half-closed."

"No one would guess how much you actually hate coffee. For how threatening it can be to be in your presence, no one would guess that you take your coffee with eleven creams and four sugars."

She picked up her fork. "In my next life I'll drink black."

XxX

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes, just keep walking."

He'd blindfolded her during the drive and was now walking her to his desired destination.

"Water, I smell water. You're taking me to the ocean."

He untied the blindfold. She exhaled, smiling, and that was all he needed. He'd taken her to the Institute of Marine Aquarium Research in southern California, a place extremely familiar to her years ago. Going behind her, he wrapped his arms around her, talking softly into her ear.

"These creatures were once what you lived for. You took care of them. And for today this entire facility is yours. Nothing is off access to you. So go do what you once wanted to dedicate your life do doing. Give these people your advice. Touch the whales if it makes you happy."

Her eyes were wide with excitement and she had a genuine smile on her face. She even had her fingers wrapped around his wrist, still hanging onto him.

"Oliver," she whispered to him. "I don't know what I would do. I haven't been around them in so long."

"You know exactly what to do."

She turned her face to look at his and she smiled. "You rented this place for me for a day?"

"Yes."

"And how much did that cost?"

He pushed her away from him playfully. "Just go talk to a fish."

She looked back at him hesitantly.

"Go!"

"They're aquatic vertebrates," she told him.

XxX

"That was the most…freeing thing I've done in years," she told him as she followed him through the trees and plants.

"I loved watching you do that again," he replied, smiling.

She was glad he was in front of her so he wouldn't see the tear she wiped from her cheek. She'd stayed six hours, welcomed by the staff, interacting with them as if she were one of them again. She felt so much younger, so much lighter. She _**was**_ young, but death, murder, and betrayal made her feel so heavy and so constrained. When she was in this surrounding again, she wasn't responsible for the horrors of the world, she was part of the beauty of it. Resting her hand against the dorsal fin of a dolphin felt to her the way holding a tiny baby would to someone else. It was hope, the future, and perfect beauty.

"Okay, so here we are," Oliver announced, reaching a clearing to the ocean, where he'd laid out a picnic basket and a stack of bows and arrows.

"What, I eat while you practice?"

"Right, because that'd be so much fun for you? No. I thought I'd teach you."

"Because it's always been my life's ambition?"

"Just get over here."

He placed her in front of him and put the bow in front of both of them.

"Okay, now put your hand on-"

"I KNEW you were physically incapable of saying even one sentence that wasn't about-"

"I am totally innocent!"

"In what universe?"

Again he said, "Put your hand-"

"Oliver."

He moved her hand for her and put it on the bow. "Look at the tree," he said.

"Look at the tree," she repeated and did it.

"I spent weeks teaching myself how to do this on the island right before we met with the intent of catching a pig because I was so goddamn hungry," he told her as he guided her through it.

He could always make her laugh. "Well, it's inspiring that a pig began the quest of Green Arrow."

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed as they shot the arrow. "It was all the for the pig," he teased. "Had nothing to do with you."

"Okay, let me do it," she insisted with excitement.

He'd made her feel like she could still be more than what Lex had turned her into. Maybe she could still save the planet in the way she'd dreamed of at fifteen when she'd gone to Harvard.

She began shooting arrows and she worked to see the images of the day; they danced along her brain, making her happy, almost acid trip happy.

It was easy to be in his arms and still let him help her. When she let someone else be strong, she could let it be fun. And in these clothes, in this different skin she seemed to be in, she felt the entire point of what he was providing her.

"You're working overtime, aren't you?" she grinned, her face right next to his as they both looked at the same target.

"Nothing comes easy for what you want most."

Her arms felt heavy as soon as he said that. She lowered the bow slowly and turned to him. Oliver looked down at her hands holding the bow, then back up at her, enthralled. He watched her eyes quickly look at his mouth, and then jump back to his own. He needed this moment and without waiting he reached for her face and brushed her lips with his. Her stomach dropped as soon as he kissed her, everything falling away. He didn't waste a second, laying all of his passion onto her as she tried to take it in. He bit gently at her mouth, sucking and nipping at her lips and when she unintentionally made slight space between them, he gathered her closer, completely enveloping her.

When she knew it wouldn't end anywhere in the vicinity of a kiss, she pulled back.

"No, come here," he begged, pulling her back.

"I can't," she told him. "Even after today, I can't. I'm sorry."

He held her face against his, at least needing her that close for a few more seconds. "It's not why I brought you here."

"I know."

"I just want you to believe me."

"I know you do. I know what you want. And I see how much you want it. I know."

He smiled sadly at her. "I don't think you even believe that much."

"Oliver, I will never forget any day I've spent with you."

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

-It is _**so**_ easy to write their chemistry and their love for each other. I have no idea if I do them justice, but they flow in my mind as much as they do on screen. I adore them. If I could watch these actors play these characters of anyone else for the twenty years, I'd be so happy. *sigh* They're amazing.

Oh, and by the way, I researched several real marine research labs in the country and around the world and they were **not** located where I wanted them to be in relation to Metropolis, so eventually I gave up and just made up my own for Oliver to take Tess to. So, it's a make believe aquarium! *grins*


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Time never mattered to him before. It was insignificant in his life. But now every second, the thought of time crept over his mind, terrifying him more and more. He understood what it was like to have someone who was more than a great love. This was someone he needed. _**Needed**_. Perhaps he'd always needed her, but he had always been so young, _**behaved**_ so young, that the thought of allowing himself to connect with someone to the point of being unable to exist without that other person, never existed in his life before.

He'd promised her that he would give her time. There it was, that word _**time**_ again. He was losing time. Precious days were slipping by, days that turned into weeks. So he walked through the Luthor mansion in search of her. He heard the bathroom water running and opened the door, startling her.

"Jesus, Oliver, it's midnight! Even you could learn to use a phone."

She looked so beautiful in her red satin pajamas and matching robe. He didn't say anything as he came towards her and lifted her up onto the bathroom counter.

"Oliver-"

"Shhh," he whispered, so tired of all the trying between them.

She felt all of his exhaustion immediately, his forehead coming to rest against hers, his breath mixing with hers. She felt his pain, his urgency, and it didn't take long for the butterflies and yearnings to begin unfolding in her own stomach.

"I need you to tell me what to say, Tess," he whispered, his hands going beneath her robe to touch her bare legs, pushing her shorts up.

Her hands quickly went to his to halt him, but all that stopped was the breath in her throat.

"I need you to tell me how to convince you how much I need you…how much I love you," his lips traced her face, caressing the freshly washed skin. "_**Tell**_ me how to convince you that I will never leave you, that you are the most exciting, beautiful woman in the world." One hand left her thigh and pulled the robe from her back, eliciting a gasp from her mouth. His warm fingers went up her cool back, and her eyes closed and she was feeling his lips reach her ear. "How do I seduce you? How do I get you to say yes? Tell me what it would take."

She wanted him to taste her throat, to do it to her. Every nerve ending ached for his touch and she knew just as she had always known that she was different from every other woman he'd slept with. That would be her failure until her dying day. Her hand betrayed her as it reached for him but before it got there, he jerked her face to him, his lips nearly touching hers. Her green eyes burst open.

"Tell me," he pleaded.

She tried to breathe regularly, but now she was completely and utterly screwed. He had every part of her even if he'd actually meant to get a legitimate answer out of her. If he'd wanted an answer about her lifelong plans, he hadn't gone about this correctly. Her eyes could barely focus. She closed them again and placed her hands on his face.

Nodding, she breathed in. "Yes," she said.

His mouth latched onto hers, caressing it, and his hands pulled her top off and discarded it on the floor. She wrapped her long legs around his waist, securing herself to him.

"Mercy," he called her, lifting her off the counter, plunging his fingers into her red hair.

He lowered her to her bed, moving back and forth against her, supplying friction as he pushed his tongue inside her mouth, tasting her, feeling her deep breaths against him. When he pulled back and looked at her, he just wanted to stare, to see the flush in her cheeks, the passion in her eyes. She rose up off her back and helped him with his shirt, never distasted by his scar. She rolled on top and wrapped her lips around him, her shining hair pooling around her face. His hands reached for her as they often did. She allowed him to grab her hands, her shoulders, to try to force her to look up at him for an instant, but then she flung his hands off of her, continuing the motions of her tongue. His hips jumped as she became more aggressive, loving to drive him to the finish. When he knew he was close, he ripped her away, throwing her on her back, seeing that she was as out of breath as he was.

"You always do that," she sighed.

"Only with you," he replied. Leaning down he kissed her, lovingly, distracting her briefly from his fingers reaching beneath her shorts to touch her, touch her where he knew it would have the most effect, and then swallow her cries. She bit at his mouth, twisted against him, and struggled with all of the pleasure he forced on her.

When he knew he'd given her enough, he pulled back and removed the last of their clothing, driving himself inside of her. She closed her eyes, enjoying it, but hating that she did. He gathered her up, trying to comfort her.

"Tess," he whispered. "Don't. I need you to believe in me, believe that I love you."

She opened her eyes but didn't look at him. He thrust into her and she arched back, feeling it.

"Tess," he said again.

"What?" she asked, as if pleading with him.

"You swore to me that you didn't see me cheating on you when you looked at me."

Then she looked at him. "I don't. I see you telling me you were going to kill me!" she sat up and tried to push him off of her but he was just as fast and all they succeeded in doing was throwing themselves off the bed and landing on the floor.

He caught her and held her down. She was furious, her eyes burning with anger. He smiled.

"There she is," he grinned, looking down at her. "Does that feel good?" he asked. "To have it back? The power, the anger?"

She could've burned him with her eyes. "I hate you when you talk me to like I'm a five year old-" and she tried to sit up.

He pushed her back down, thrusting into her angrily.

"Oliver, don't," she begged, her nails digging into his arms.

"No, I want you to be angry with me if it makes you feel strong," he replied. "That's how we play, isn't it?" He bent down to her ear. "But you need to know that no matter where you run, no matter where you hide, I will always find you. You will _**never **_escape me."

He drove into her, forcing her to kiss him, to match him, enjoying the power she felt again. Her toes curled as her anger fueled inside her. She hated that she loved him, that she had to listen to him tell her that he loved her. She hated what he could make her body do, what he could make her mind do. She hated that she finished and that he laid there beside her, satisfied.

"I love you," he said again.

"Shut up," she said flatly.

"Tess, it's alright that I seduced you."

Her eyes widened and she turned and punched him as hard as she could. He cried out in pain as she gathered up her blanket around her naked body and walked away from him.

"Jesus Christ, Tess! Are you insane?" he moaned.

"Am I insane? What is the matter with you? Get out of my house. You treat me like I'm nothing. You have ALWAYS treated me like I'm nothing. The Oliver Queen, good-looking, seductive crap makes me sick. I am not your whore, Oliver. Get out."

He was still in pain. He winced and rolled over, getting up.

"God, you overreact."

"Get out," she said again.

He came towards her, frustrated as hell. "I am not here to degrade your 'strong woman' image. I love you, and I'm not leaving you no matter what you do. I want you. I want to touch you. I want to be inside you, and I don't mind making you cry out my name."

She turned to leave, but he stopped her.

"Get over it, Tess. Think about what you do to me."

She shook in absolute disgust at the way he not only spoke, but obviously the way he thought.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

She frowned at him. "Is this what you think about? All day long? You?"

"I think about wanting you all day long. And now I've got you right in my arms and I want you to say it. I want you tell me that you want me."

She stared at the man she was disgusted that she loved. "Don't cross me, Oliver. I'll make you regret it."

He touched her face, knowing what to do.

"But you need me too, don't you?"

"I hate you," she declared.

"Tell me."

"Why?" she asked simply. "So you'll be bored and the game will be over?"

He never in his life wanted to hit a woman but she made him more frustrated than anyone.

"Goddammit, Tess, this isn't a game!"

She thought about it for an instant, and then leaned into him. "Fine. Maybe if I say it, you'll leave me alone. I love you. I have always loved you and to you, I am someone who keeps you entertained when the other women you seem to want are unavailable. That is my tragic flaw. Does that make you so happy for me to admit?"

He took her arm, trying to pull her towards him.

"Stop," she insisted.

"Come here," he demanded.

"I said get out!"

"You know I love you, you know how much I need you; stop resisting me."

She was strong enough that he had to push her back against the wall to gain control of her, and she lost the blanket in the process. She didn't lose the power in her eyes, which made him both happy and exhausted. He wanted her to feel strong, but it also kept her barriers up. She certainly made him work harder than anyone else ever had.

"I'm never going to let you go," he said.

"You don't _**have**_ me."

"The hell I don't."

Her eyes narrowed. "You think it's so easy, don't you?" She pulled her hands free of his grasp but she stayed where she was. "You want honesty? You want me to tell you I love you? I love you so much that everything you do makes my body and soul respond to you. And I feel you whether I want to or not. But I also hate you. I hate you with everything inside me. You hurt me more than anyone's ever hurt me and I don't want to respond to you in any way. I want to be free of you. But I never will be."

"Tess-"

"I won't," she concluded. "And you can't possibly understand that. You look at me and at most see someone who stimulates you. That's nothing. A lot of people stimulate you, Oliver. Don't try to understand who I am or what I've gone through at any point in my life. I won't let you consume me again."

He nodded, truly hating himself for what he'd done to her.

"I get it, Tess. I do. And I'm sorry you don't believe that I love you, but if you don't, then I can't be a good person with you. I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"If you can't love me back, then you're going to have to hate me. Because I will consume you. I will do whatever it takes to be in your mind all the time. I can't let you go."

She tensed up. "I'm pregnant," she said.

"Don't…don't do that," he replied. "Don't be afraid. Don't use the baby to try to stop me. This has nothing to do with the baby."

"How could it not?" she asked honestly. "How could you intentionally hurt me while I'm pregnant?"

He pushed her head back against the wall. "It's not hurting, Tess. You can handle me, I promise. But I refuse to live without you."

"You destroyed my life," she whispered. "You made me hate you."

"But you love me."

She exhaled, hating that one defeating fact.

"Come here," he said, taking her lips with his. "I _**love**_ you, Mercy. And one day, you will believe me. You will stop hating yourself when you love me back."

He kissed her hard, pulling her arms around his body. He licked her lips, sucking them, raining kisses along her jawline and he whispered her name until she shivered.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

-That was a little darker, wasn't it? Yeah, I know, hope you lived. But I like all the aspects of them. He put her through a lot of crap, but I want Mr. Queen ambitious to get her back, aware of his demons and past mistakes and still completely engrossed in who she is, fury and all. So this was a very passionate chapter for me, my rage and characterization for them both running wild and free. I love them. I don't have to go beyond too many limits because there are so few with them. They're amazing to play with. *happy sigh* Do I ever have to stop?


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

He was gone when she woke up. The sunlight imposed on her sleep and she had no choice but to give into the morning. Her body ached and once again her head throbbed. She'd talked to her doctor but the headaches in relation to her hormones were always a problem for her, so she wasn't that surprised that they were occurring. She looked around the room for her robe and squatted on the floor, reaching under the bed for it just to be interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Ms. Mercer, you have a guest."

She fumbled to get her robe on.

"Not right-"

"Step aside, tall, dark, and scary, she knows who I am."

Tess fastened her robe and ran her fingers through her hair, positive she looked as good as she felt.

"Please tell me you're here with a severe desire to relocate to Montana," Tess said with exhausted eyes.

"Did you have a rough night, Mom?"

Tess pulled herself up and walked past Lois into the study. "Yes, as a matter of fact."

With her head pounding and Lois rambling on about something, Tess tuned her out completely while concentrating on finding a bottle of aspirin in the drawers of her desk. Shoving drawers open and closed, she finally found what she was looking for and popped a pill in her mouth.

"Uh, should you be taking that?" Lois asked.

Tess immediately spit it out. "Shit."

"Well, one probably won't do anything," Lois concluded. "But I thought I'd say something." Lois could see her discomfort. "If you lead me to the kitchen in this haunted house, I can try a couple home remedies to help."

Ten minutes later, Lois had a lime on Tess's forehead and was making her lemon green tea.

"Even his kitchen is cryptic," Lois commented dryly.

"Tell me about it."

"So, come on, tell me about Oliver."

"I was wondering when that would come out of your mouth," Tess said, taking the cup out of Lois's hands. "And while I appreciate whatever this concoction is, you are the last person I'm talking to about Oliver."

"Right, because you have so many girlfriends to confide in right now," Lois said, sitting in the chair across from Tess.

"Glass houses, Lois, and no. You're not my friend, you're his."

Lois reached out and gently pulled Tess's robe to see a deep bruise with visible teeth marks on her chest.

"Nice, was he trying to obtain fresh blood?"

"Get off," Tess said, pushing Lois away.

"Hey, I've been there," Lois said in a pathetic attempt at identifying and when Tess eyed her, she quickly shook her head. "No, no, not with him."

"If there's a point, Lois, please feel free to get to it."

"You know, you haven't earned much, Tess. You don't need to act like we're beggars at your feet. We're trying here and you're acting like we're nothing more than a petty annoyance. Get over it."

There was nothing like arguing with someone you didn't invite into your home when you had a headache.

"I didn't ask any of you to put on a happy face and make nice with me. And you're not doing it because you've seen some change in me that makes you want to give me the time of day. I'm not turning anything away other than you sitting across from me out of the loyalty of your friend who's driving me insane."

"Do you love him?"

"You know something, your relationships have always been filled with banter, and flirtation, and romance. You could never understand what it is like to have what I have had."

Tess stood up and turned away.

"Oh right, because you're _**so**_ deep and complex, and some uninteresting idiot like me couldn't possibly conceive of what someone like you has experienced. Maybe I'm not dark, ugly, and completely fucked up, but I do understand being addicted to someone." 

Tess didn't turn around and her arrogance made Lois's patience run out. "You know something? Drink that tea. You may not like me or think I'm worth anything at all and you know what, I'm not here for your damned approval. You tried to destroy everyone in my life, so you don't get a free pass. You should shut up and be grateful that _**anyone**_ is talking to you."

~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~

*grins* Don't ya just love their feistiness? You just want to shove them in a room and MAKE them get along! I know, I know they're getting there, but it's not freaking kum-ba-ya yet! Still, I hope I made some valid points between them before real progression can happen. Tess does think Lois is a little "bubbly" and Lois…well, she's fierce when it comes to those she loves, so it might take her a moment or two to have a less judgmental opinion of Tess. They're both beyond head of rock, they are cement headed.

But they're WONDERFUL!

As I've said, fun to write them! Especially discussing Tollie.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Oliver Queen stood in front of the glass doors in his penthouse on a business call when he heard the elevator door opening and turned to see Tess Mercer walk through it with absolute violence in her eyes. The fact that she looked messy and tired didn't seem to be stopping her from coming at him with complete wrath in her demeanor.

"I'll call you back," he said hanging up the phone. "What happened?" he asked quickly.

"You know _**exactly**_ what happened!" she said before condemning him to being on the receiving end of her fist and watching him drop to the floor.

Despite any pain, he knew to move immediately and he crossed to the opposite end of the room. He rubbed his jaw and saw her breathing heavily, seething with rage.

"I think you broke my jaw," he said.

"Your jaw?" she repeated, coming towards him. "I'm going to make you so sorry you ever thought about making my day a living hell; get over here!"

She looked around for any weapon possible. She picked up a vase and raised it.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"You mean the part where you had me arrested? The part where you had me detained at the airport, claiming my credit cards were stolen?" she shouted, propelling it at him and watching him dodge it.

"If you don't calm down, you're going to hurt somebody!"

She walked around his living room in desperate search of something to injure him with. "I'm not going hurt anybody; I'm going to KILL you!"

Not too far out of her way on one of his small tables was a plate with a bread knife. He saw her eyeing it but she beat him to it and grabbed hold of it. Oliver quickly settled himself over her, clamping down.

"Okay, you need to calm down and breathe!"

"Don't tell me to breathe; I am not having contractions!"

"You are seriously going to hurt someone! I mean it! Take it down about eighty notches!"

"If you don't get off me, I swear to God I will cut you into little pieces and feed you to a homeless woman's dog."

Somehow he believed she could succeed in doing that, even with only a bread knife. She shoved him off of her and turned around, knife aimed at him and eyes flaming with absolute insanity.

"You hacked into my accounts and reported my credit cards stolen. It took me seven hours to prove my own identity, Oliver. In an airport, because you wouldn't let me fly the jet."

"Seven hours, really?" he asked, surprised.

Seeing that push her even further, he raised his hands up in defeat.

"White flag, white flag. I was just having a little fun."

"A little fun, really? Why don't you come here and I'll show you what a little fun is," she said, urging him with her free hand, the other hand keeping the knife well placed.

"Tess, you know what? You have jumped off the diving board into the deep end and have gone straight into hysteria."

"No, this is not hysteria!" she shouted. "Hysteria is you thinking you have the right to do something as invasive as that and not suffer the consequences!" she exclaimed, throwing the knife.

She was so angry that she didn't have much of a reaction to his survival when the knife missed its mark.

"The entire department responsible for holding me will be out of business by tomorrow morning, I promise you! So who was it? Was it Chloe? Is she the little mastermind?"

She saw an ugly glass statue that probably had some sentimental meaning to Oliver. However, to her, it looked like a weapon. She picked it up.

"Did you fucking take the money out of MY accounts to pay her!"

He was getting better at dodging the things that she threw at him.

"Now don't start imagining things. I'm perfectly capable of paying my own employees," he said nervously as he used his couch as a shield.

"Employees," she laughed. "So, when you're not knocking her head against the bed frame, she's your employee? How dare you use her to destroy me!"

"How many times did you use Lex to destroy me?" She immediately picked up a chair and he cringed. "I have got to work on my timing."

She walked with the chair over to the clock-wall.

"Picking up a chair is probably not your best idea right now," he informed her.

She threw the chair through the glass wall and that was about enough for him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I know where you keep your toys too," she replied. "And I am not above killing you with five arrows and your own compound bow."

"Okay, time out!" he said, grabbing her from behind, positioning a hand over her face and one around her chest. "You've had your fit-"

She successfully bit his hand, but before she could say anything he'd restrained her again.

"It's only credit cards! Stop!"

She stopped fighting briefly, long enough to convince him to let her go.

"Get away from the glass!" he ordered, pushing her angry, exhausted form away from the mess she'd made.

She walked towards the couch but she didn't sit down. She was spent.

"Feel better now?" he mocked.

"Oh don't gloat," she said, working really hard not to get a headache. "I could still bury you alive."

"And I'm sure you'll try."

"Try? I'm not the innocent victim you left behind. I am your equal and I could take you in a second. I know what the rules are and how the game is played. So don't try to kill what you can never break."

"That's not what I was trying to do."

"I don't care what you were trying to do. I am not your prisoner here. I can leave the country anytime I want to. I was staying here because I chose to, not because I had to. I can buy my own plane, I can rent one, or I can fly coach and go to Bogotá if I want to. I don't need your permission. Try and stop me again and never seeing this baby will be the least of your problems."

They heard the unmistakable voice of Lois Lane greeting Oliver in the elevator and Tess took the initiative to end her hostile glaring and turn to leave. Walking towards the elevator, she met Lois's beautiful, vibrant, energetic self.

"Get the hell out of my way," Tess stated flatly, barely even looking at Lois as she shoved past her into the elevator.

"Whoa, nice to see you too - _**leaving**_."

It didn't take a neurologist to see that Tess was even less chipper than usual and when Lois turned to see the destruction of Oliver's apartment, she had, at the very least, concern.

"Oh my God, Oliver, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just my jaw and hand; I'll live."

"What happened?"

"Honestly, I had her arrested."

Lois feared the worst. "Why?" she asked hesitantly. "What'd she do?"

"Nothing, which is why she was angry."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"I mean she didn't do anything."

Lois, usually the crazy one in the group, wasn't following. "Okay, so you thought, what, she'd find that funny?"

"She was going to leave the country, so I stopped her by having them detain her."

"Your brilliant plan was _**that**_?"

"You're one to talk."

"Well that's how I know! Oliver, all you've done now is make her more angry at you, and probably now at the world. I feel like I'm the one who should get a ticket out of the country for protection just from the looks of your apartment. You two in the same room is apparently a dangerous thing." She didn't pause for long. "Oh and by the way, I saw that disgusting mark you left on her chest. It's a little late for this but she's not supposed to be stressed right now."

"Exactly, that mark is the opposite of stress."

Lois rolled her eyes. "You're such a pig sometimes."

"That's why you left me for a nice guy."

"Left you? I was in love with you and you left me twice. I just handled it better than she did."

He opened his mouth and she cut him off.

"I DON'T WANNA KNOW!" She shook with revulsion. "This whole thing between you two is disgusting anyways."

"Yeah," he said, not really listening to her. "I've gotta go talk to her."

"Hello, were my lips moving?" she said after him.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

This was one of my favorite chapters to this story, though there wasn't anything in this story that I didn't have a good time writing. Obviously I was inspired by Checkmate's fight scene in Tess's bedroom and I had a damn party in my mind coming up with this. I may have stretched the realities of how Oliver could pull this off, but suspend your disbelief with me, if you would. When two people have this much power, it's hard to come up with ways for them to take it away from each other. *grins*

Anyway, I LOVED making this happen. Tess and Oliver fighting, it's just fun! Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: In case you don't remember, this story is NC-17 and this is a very NC-17 chapter. So don't read it at work if your boss is behind you or something. **

**Chapter 9**

"Do you know how many loaded guns I have in this house?"

"I came to say I'm sorry."

She walked past him down Lex's hallway.

"Yeah, you look real sorry."

"Hey," he said, going after her. "I knew you'd leave the country; what was I supposed to do?"

"How about _**let**_ me leave?" She went into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of seltzer water out of the fridge. "Who the hell made it your decision?" When she opened the bottle, it squirted all over her, seeming to feel her rage. It didn't pause her discussion with him, though she went in search of a napkin.

"I told you before that I wouldn't let you leave, and if you somehow managed to do that I'd follow you," he said.

Hearing him say that, she completely forgot what it was that she was searching for. She became engrossed in trying to find a new way to tell him to get out of her life.

"Here," he said, handing her a paper towel. It irritated her to be helped in any way by him, especially after today. She reluctantly took it. "Does your stomach hurt?"

"Don't ask me questions like that; I'm fine."

She could guess what would come out of his mouth next.

"And if I hear anything about hormones at any point, ever…"

"Hey, you know, I actually did not show up here to die."

"Granted," she replied, walking away.

"Tess, come on, wait."

She lifted her hands up when he reached for them. "Look, I'm showered, and I just want to go to my room, read for awhile and go to sleep. I spent the whole day in a room talking to people who refused to believe me when I told them who I was. I want to go to my room and be in the quiet."

"I know you wanted to leave because of what happened, what I said and did, but you don't have to run the second I make it clear what's between us."

She drew in a breath and smacked her lips together. He absolutely never wasted any time getting back to his point. "What is it that you want me to say? I know you want me to say something."

"The same thing I've wanted you to say for a long time."

"Yeah well, you go home and maybe you'll dream it."

He blocked the door.

"Do you think I've forgotten what you said? You told me that in your life, there was one person."

Her eyes showed that little pull, that thread on her life that he'd just played with. She shook her head, somehow still in disbelief at him.

"You can use anything you want, and you have. But I asked you not to use that day. I want that day untouched, and I told you on that day that I couldn't take anything else and that has meant nothing to you. Don't use weakness for your own power. I'm like Lex when I do it, right?"

"You-" and he shocked her by gripping her neck tightly, angrily. "You were the _**last**_ person I ever wanted to see again, ever." She blinked a few times, not expecting that, his blatant honesty and anger. It reminded her of when he'd wanted her dead…really wanted her dead. "Your alliance with Lex, trying to kill Chloe, being a Checkmate agent, every lie you ever told…" he said scathingly, and she hated it when he was disgusted with her. She had a thousand defenses but she knew it probably wouldn't matter to him.

Her hand was forced to go over his to loosen his hold. Her eyes shut when his forehead bumped against hers.

"But you were also the only person that I ever knew I could look at and know when you looked back at me, you understood all the sides of me, even if you didn't want to." Her hair was just barely damp from her shower when he ran his fingers through it. Her shoulders rose slightly when he did that, so opposed to him and so unable to fight the way he infected her mind. "You challenge me, drive me, scare me, and dammit, I am _**so**_ in love with you."

"Do you have any idea the difference this would've made before you said what you did? I needed you to save my life and you walked away."

"Then let me save you now. I know the loyalty you feel towards Clark and why you did what you did, but you don't have to leave determined to only remember me walking away."

He was very careful when he met her lips. He asked permission, knowing he had more to apologize for than just the extreme aggravation of today.

"I need you to stay," he said softly.

She allowed him to kiss her, gently and slowly, and he was smarter than she was, taking her over before she decided to fight back.

"Stay," he said again, quickly removing his shirt and kissing her again.

He was good at amending any uncertainties she had, any resistance. She knew that through any darkness, any betrayals, he was extremely romantic, and perhaps it was completely in her mind, but he liked that he understood how she worked and that he could get a reaction out of her. And whether that was part of what made it an addiction, it was also what made it romantic. When he kissed her, in an instant, it was between them both, and he never had to worry that she wouldn't be matching him.

Lost in her analysis, she managed to miss him discarding his clothes, however, she did become alert when he pushed the robe from her shoulders, gently at first, then more swiftly when she started to pull back so she couldn't stop him. Cognitive response emerged beneath all of the suppression he forced over her and she didn't feel strong this time, or that she was using him back. She made a small cry of protest in his mouth, which only elicited more sensuality from him.

More and more, faster and faster, he flawlessly exhausted her, blinding her instead of letting her comprehend his emotions. He licked the roof of her mouth, focusing his attention on her upper lip, in the process keeping her mouth open and wet. He didn't feel like he was being selfish when he poured his need onto her, pushing her, using her. He knew that she liked it even if she hated herself for it, and covering her with his mouth, his body, and everything they still were, wasn't something he did to demoralize her. He did it to think about the day that she would forgive him.

She drew in a breath, probably to break free, and he took her hands that rose up and jerked her away from him, turning her against the wall, pressing his chest into her back. He pushed her left hand forward against the wall, spreading her fingers over it, feeling angry tension filtering through her in anxious breaths. Her right arm, held firmly in his and crossed over her chest, resisted him but it wasn't as rebellious as her skin; the skin that he didn't mind laying claim to like it was still years ago, though he knew he might drive her to yanking a drawer of silverware and throwing it at him.

Intuitively hearing her thoughts, he snuck his mouth up to her ear, and though she knew how to fight, despite all of her training, he still knew the same tricks she did. All her life, it was always men who kept her trapped.

"Just relax, I will never let you fall," he promised, running his mouth down her neck.

She could've laughed at the innocence of his statements. He didn't have to live with anything. Even if he knew how much she loved him, if he could possibly understand that, how could she ever believe him? She was a master of placing herself at the center of self-destruction with hopes of love, and he had been one of the first to show her that she could never expect that. He'd left himself inside of her like a quiet, sometimes unheard virus. She'd been his first save, but he'd been her hope of something so much more than what had been displayed to her as a child. He'd been damaged as a child too, but he would never understand her need for him. For her, it was stronger in the moments when he gave her attention, stronger than her ability to know what was logical. She always knew afterwards that the clouds would clear, and she knew that he looked at her, came at her, but she never believed him. And it kept her angry.

But she fed herself anyway, and for that second, maybe, she soaked herself in his words.

He shoved his fingers into her mouth, running them around her tongue, saturating them as she worked to comply. Sliding them out, he reached down, both of them forgetting her pregnancy as he began using his fingers to make her wet. She turned her head away from him, unable to reach him with her hands, unable to say anything to him without him being superior, and unable to do anything other than breathe him in so that the darkness Lex taught her would never take her over again. But letting him, succumbing to it, that felt just as dark.

She heard her own cries, she felt him spreading her wetness on his fingers. His lips traced their way across her shoulder, nipping at her throat, his mouth almost more aggressive than his hand. He gripped her face and made her look at him, pausing his pressure on her for a moment, allowing her sighs to ease.

"Put your tongue in my mouth," he commanded softly.

He watched her eyes, seeing her look at him, watching them over-think.

"Do it, Tess, do it now."

She did, leaning in, sliding her tongue in his mouth like a reflex to his touch. Immediately he stroked it, glided his against it, and it was dirty, messy, and brutal. His hand held her face where it was so he could swallow the sounds as he drove into her, enjoying the slickness he was responsible for.

He smeared his lips over her face. Strands of her hair were caught between his fingers, and she would've screamed into his mouth; whether in protest or from the stimulation, she wasn't even sure, but his hand kept her open mouth crushed against his, imprisoned as he tasted her.

Needing all the leverage he could gather, he released her mouth, gripping her hipbone to penetrate her. The muscles in her arms were tired of holding herself up against the wall, straining for relief – his dominating movements throwing her forward, yet he still kept her face against his. He moved his mouth down her neck, his thrusts jerking her spine into awareness as her hand was forced back up toward the wall. Her body absorbed everything, taking it all in as she closed her eyes, his teeth engraving a mark on her throat. She let them sink into her skin as she gently rolled her head back, feeling his impending release spurring him on – and all of her pain, every murder, every loss, every victory and disappointment, and all of the anger he had caused her coursed through her mind, binding tightly there until his teeth cracked her skin, causing her orgasm to end with a painful cry.

He held onto her for dear life, violently releasing himself into her, his body seeking hers without rationality as his teeth broke her skin. He heard her cry out and then it was over, both of them focusing on what had just coursed through them. He didn't release his hold on her and if it had been anyone else, it would've been too overwhelming, too invasive. But with him, in the insane moments they shared, she wondered how he could use her like she was nothing and yet touch her with complete adoration at the same time.

Her head hurt - like something had ruptured inside of it, a puncture almost. She relaxed the muscles and couldn't remember all of the thoughts that had bludgeoned her mind a few minutes ago. He heard her breaths and the tiny, painful sounds that accompanied them. He loosened his grasp and licked the wound he'd created.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She reached up, caressing the side of his face, using her other hand to grab onto him and turn around toward him. It took her a minute to look up at him because she was waiting for her rage that was somewhere in her mind, but it was no longer in her grasp. He wasn't preening down at her, he was simply waiting. So she looked up at him, not forgiving him, not admitting anything, but allowing an intermission to her hatred.

It didn't take him long to notice the difference in her eyes. The difference in her expression between wanting him dead and not wanting him dead was almost as if two completely different people were inside of her, two separate personalities he probably brought out, though perhaps he shouldn't take all of the credit. Looking at her now, the borderline offensive act they'd just participated in wasn't in her thoughts. She was reaching for him, reaching for more than she could give or be at the moment.

Never being one for tact or patience, he leaned down and kissed her, curling his hand around her cheek. It was gentler, kinder, and he projected his love and his urgency instead of power and revenge. He tried to be careful but it was hard to hold back when she wasn't placing a wall between them. Kissing her was completely different when he didn't feel her resisting it.

"You still mad at me?" he asked between kisses.

"You have no idea how much trouble you're still in," she smiled honestly before latching onto his mouth.

She ran her fingers through his hair, covering his mouth with hers until he hoisted her up against him, audibly breaking their kiss in the process. She was bright when she looked down at him. He brushed her hair out of her face so he could capture her face in his mind. He laid her down on the floor, and for the first time since he'd walked into her office three and a half months ago, she wasn't fighting him every step of the way.

He lay down on top of her, feeling her outline his mouth with kisses and when he pulled back, she moved with him. He knew she would touch him, find her way to his body, but being who he was in this moment, he got to her first, pushing her to the floor gently and sliding a finger inside her.

Taken off guard and feeling a little frustrated, a slight tremor ran through her, causing her to grasp onto him.

"I love you," he exhaled, practically into her mouth.

Her eyes had been closed but she then opened them a little and looked up at him, her expression so clear to him. _**Do you? **_Because apparently this was his world and she was just visiting. But that wasn't exactly new. For about five minutes it had been her world when they'd fought with the sticks when she'd first come back, but as soon as he'd kissed her, she hadn't wanted him to be afraid of her so she'd tried to be gentler, lessening her own anger because of his weakness.

None of that mattered right now, though. Everything had a different taste to it. She wanted to participate, to pretend she could exist with him. So when he kissed her, she kissed him back, her hands still wandering, feeling him but letting him do what he needed.

He was everywhere, no longer focused on just being inside her, but pushing her thighs apart, running his hands along the skin that protected the circulating veins.

"Open your eyes."

She did. His eyes were almost fascinated but she was still engrossed in the sensations of her heart and body, so she didn't really understand or care why.

"Your eyes say everything: every emotion, all your thoughts. I want you to keep them open."

Okay, so, he cheated on her, he left her, he shot her with a taser, he lied to her about being Green Arrow, and when she begged for his help he told her he'd kill her and then walked off with another woman. He then impregnated her and now spent every waking moment demoralizing her, and he just told her that even her eyes were a way that he somehow got to take just a little bit more away from her?

She looked away for a second in case he could see those thoughts building inside her. She flashed her eyes back at him, and as she would expect, he made sure she was looking at him and then he began inflicting a slow, irritating process on her. She had to hold onto him, and she had to work to keep her eyes on his and to have some equilibrium in her expression. It was harder than she would've thought to experience what he was doing to her and still remain looking at him. It was more difficult to have a reaction, and though she felt slivers of the sensations, she was blocked from the full experience. However, he seemed to be appreciating whatever her eyes were mirroring back at him.

She closed her eyes in response to the teasing, immediately able to relax and take in the stimulation. He instantly told her to open her eyes again and giving in, she felt uneasy, revealed. She tried for as long as she could, knowing that if she didn't stay with him that he'd probably stop, but she hated that he'd told her in the first place.

So she stopped, and she turned her face away from him. "I can't do it that way. I can't do it the way you want."

He did remove his fingers but she was so deep in her own mind that mild discomfort was all that reached her consciousness.

"Then tell me that."

His words made the uneasiness loosen its hold on her. She turned back towards him, and all she could do was know that she loved him, and know so much more intensely after his words that it was even more obvious to him now. Possibly out of consideration for her, he didn't stare at her. Briefly he covered her face with his lips, enjoying it when her hands dove into his hair, her fingernails beginning to dig into his scalp. His mouth skipped over her neck, having done enough damage there and he used his hands to arch her chest towards him, sucking the skin between her breasts before continuing down her body.

Her strong hands pulled him back up, knowing there was only one reason he'd be making his way down her body.

"Don't, don't do that."

He overwhelmed her enough just being all over her and being everywhere she was. He didn't need to purposely prove he was able to push so many different variations onto her; she got the message.

He slid a hand underneath her neck, breathing down on her. "Even when you don't tell me, I know when your body's sore, or when it's getting there. I'm just helping."

She nodded slightly, appreciating his attempt at reason. "Of course, it was going to be such a completely _**selfless**_ act for you."

He smiled, always loving that from day one she was capable of knocking him off any pedestal the world had placed him on. He bent down and kissed her, doing it immediately, demanding her response so that he could be completely wrapped up in her. She made him slow down, making the kissing deeper, forceful, and open. She met his passion, fighting with him for who could be more aggressive, more destructive while never breaking the sensuality. While stroking her lips with his tongue, he pulled her leg wider, informing her that he hadn't given up on his plan. The slightest moan of protest escaped her and she held her leg still, briefly.

"It is selfish," he whispered. "But I want to."

This time he waited, he waited for her to let him move her leg because he wanted her not to fight him and be aware of it. Before, he'd forced the entire act onto her. This time he wanted her to know that she was complying. If he could make her aware of that, maybe her fucking hard head would stop screaming at him every day of the week.

"Not everything is about ego," he murmured against her face. "Sometimes it's about knowing, _**needing**_ to know that you would let me do anything to you and that you would be the one who wouldn't resist me."

She remembered when he used to tell her more, be honest with her instead of inflicting manipulation to confuse her. She understood all of his words and the echoed meaning behind them. Her own body was burning, so much that it was almost uncomfortable, but she knew before their betrayals they still had been two people - yeah, probably in love, but they had trusted each other more than anyone else.

She nodded against him, feeling his face leave her fingers.

His hands flattened over her hips and flashes crept over her of the last time his mouth was on her, but then she'd believed that Lex had faith in her and had given her everything he'd held dear to him. She'd had an entire world at her feet, and Oliver, however much he still had a hold on her, was not her life force and he couldn't hurt her. She didn't have that world any longer. Oliver was making himself her world and like every other time, she was responsible for it.

He held her down, using his tongue to surprise her, to astonish her, needing that effect to urge her muscles to react. He darted his tongue against her, stabbing at the delicate nerves, lining her folds with his moisture, making it easier. She took in sharp breaths, unable to arch her back because of his secure hold on her hips, and she had nothing to hold onto, no distraction to ease her as her stunned, overwhelmed cries intensified. She twisted because of what he was subjecting her to, his tongue laving at her, slipping in and out of her quickly, letting the cool oxygen reach her, and then he used force. Her cries had subsided, mostly, reducing her now to shivers and sweating; and she knew he liked it. She knew he liked all of it.

She shut her eyes, although her vision was dissipating anyway. She strained against him, her tense muscles on the receiving end of his mouth, being forced to open and convulse. He bathed her with his tongue, letting her come against his lips, leaving her dipping wet in a breathless, speechless, puddle.

Waiting for her to recover, Oliver dragged his mouth just below her ribcage, hesitating there, knowing it was a pressure point for her as she sucked in her stomach muscles.

He crawled the rest of the way up her body and cupped the side of her face as she still sought deep breaths.

"Did that help or do I need to try again?"

She smiled and even though her eyes were closed he was pretty sure she would've rolled them if they were open.

"I don't know…why I assumed, that you might not…" she adjusted her position slightly, still shaking and taking in deep breaths. "…do…_**that**_."

"I needed-"

She covered his mouth with her hand. "Do you ever listen to the crap that comes out of your mouth?"

Removing her hand, he replied, "I don't know, you have a pretty rich history of bullshit yourself."

"Yeah, I think it started with you."

Assuming she'd caught her breath, he kissed her, nipping at her lips. She was never disgusted when he kissed her afterwards because she never tasted anything, even when he told her what she tasted like, and when he wanted her to taste herself.

"You need to tell me."

She didn't take him seriously as they continued their playful kissing. "Why? Because you have such a fractured ego?"

"Would you quit being stubborn for one second and answer me?" he demanded, pulling back a little.

"_**I'm**_ stubborn?"

"Do you know how impatient I am?"

"Who asked you to talk? I'm _**fine**_."

He used his hands to slide her up towards him a little, focusing on her, needing things from her that she still didn't believe he did.

"_**Fine**_, meaning what?" he asked.

She could've paid attention to his conceited arrogance, and she knew she would again, sooner than she'd like, but right now she just wanted to be with him. She knew what he was asking and even though she sometimes felt drained after being around him, she still reveled in him needing her.

"You want a description?" she asked rather lightly before deciding to take him seriously. "No, I don't want you to stop. I do want you, and I want to feel that, so why don't you make me feel that?"

He bit at one of the fingers that caressed his face before grabbing her hips and flipping them so she was on top. He gripped her face before she could adjust and pulled her mouth to his for a searing kiss, unleashing his hunger as she strained to move her hair out of the way. She let him hear the surprised intake of her breath when he kissed her, and then she responded, letting him lock her face in place over his.

She straightened her body over his, her hand gliding down his torso, resting over the scar, knowing that in his case many woman might find it sexy or exciting, but to her she saw the courage she wished she could see in her own scars, but didn't. She saw heroism in Oliver and always could. Maybe she was letting him be everywhere around her for that reason. As he kissed her, he used his hands to guide her hips down so she could position herself over him, and she tore her mouth from his, wishing she could say all the things that were still unsaid between them. She smiled at him, running a finger over his lower lip and he would've kept his eyes on her for hours if she hadn't chosen that moment to sink down onto him, catching his head in her hand as it fell back.

Tess used her mouth, her skin, and her body to keep him inside their addiction. She'd made the decision a long time ago to never be a victim and though she'd failed miserably at that, she hadn't failed at knowing how to make others fall at her feet. Her knees rested on either side of his waist as she repositioned herself over him, taking him as deep into her as she could, using the position to stimulate them both. He lifted his head up to meet hers, evoking the unremitting connection between them that never seemed to fade.

Pulling her down, he whispered in the same forceful tone that she used to use on him, "I left you twice, and I don't care if it's right, I'm never going to let you leave."

She trembled as he pushed her body forward over him, taking her nipple into his mouth. He sucked gently at first, forcing her hands onto the floor on either side of him. Then his hands gripped her waist and his mouth opened further, drawing her nipple deeper into his mouth, encircling it and increasing the suction. He slid one hand down, pushing at her clit, forcing her hips to rock. His lips tugged, feeling her nipple tighten until she cried out his name.

He gave a little more force with both his mouth and his fingers before pulling her legs forward and lifting himself up. He gathered her so they were sitting entwined and he sipped her lips.

"What?" he asked in response to hearing his name from her lips for the first time during love-making since he'd come back. "_**What**_?" he asked again, kissing her. "Tell me."

His hands were on her back, sliding up to her hair. She kissed him back, unable to tell him what she knew he wanted to hear, what she knew she felt.

He placed a small kiss on her chin and she wrapped her legs around his waist, positioning herself closer. He looked at her closed eyes; she was so willing to fight back and pull away and he…he was so willing to exchange the experience, to make her breathe with him. He felt his body throbbing inside her, unable to ever recover from all she had forced him to need. He reached down between their bodies and hooked his finger into her, adjusting himself slightly differently inside her, placing his thumb against her the way he knew to. He used his free hand to push her hair from her neck and he curled his mouth around it. His teeth came down on her, his body banging against that perfect spot as his fingers pressed against her hottest nerve endings.

She didn't think about it; she didn't know. She sought oxygen and reason when she jerked forward, crying out as her muscles clamped around him. It had only happened once in her life and she never thought anyone could make it happen again. Her mind was wiped as he caught her, holding her against him, his hand cupping the back of head. She sucked in breaths, gulps, her body completely unprepared for how sudden and easy it was. The truth was when it's sudden it's more powerful; when it's not expected, it's better.

Her muscles felt flooded with sensations. He was still inside her, he hadn't climaxed. That was intentional. She felt herself coming onto him in waves and if she could've formed a thought, it might've been dangerous.

He didn't have the knowledge to do that to just anyone. It takes more than a month to know someone's body that well. And it still takes a very specific moment. It's not something to he tried every time he wanted to. The point was to catch her off guard.

He listened to her breaths, turning her lips to his and kissing her, taking her sighs into his mouth. He gently removed his fingers and rolled her on her back, wanting her now, moving, sliding, and just as easily, breathlessly releasing himself into her. Marks were left on her chest and he continued whispering words to her that she couldn't block out.

After he finished making sure she knew everything she made him feel, he pulled her up so they were entwined and facing each other. She thought about being angry, about making an issue about it, but what was the point? He was a jerk and she knew that. Each specific incident didn't matter anymore, really. Or at least she was going to try to let that one go for the moment.

She released the anger but he still saw her making up her mind.

"No, don't," he said to her.

"I need to," she replied simply, rationally. "You still had me detained today."

"That's not what it is. Tell me what you're creating in your mind now and I'll find a way to undo it."

_**Was that an insult? **_What, like she couldn't process real thoughts? He didn't have to like what she decided but he didn't have to act like she wasn't as capable as he was.

"Don't act like you don't know," she whispered, irritated. "It's everything you do. It's _**how**_ you do it."

He held her where she was. "You tell me."

"It's how you see me! You know how you see me because you come into my house, into my life, into my mind and you…confuse everything in my head. And you do it so that you can prove how much I _**worship**_ you. How much I need you. And you love it, you get off on it. You must look at me and practically feel sorry for me. It must be comedic to you. You take my mind and you manipulate it until I don't know what I'm doing. And then you…just do anything you want, and in your eyes I'm absolutely pathetic."

"Shut up, stop. Do you think I like this any more than you? You are the one person in my life who stands there and makes me force the ugliest truths about myself when others try to make me see the good. And you don't care what it does to me, you just want me to know what you know. You take everything that was me until all that's left is you."

He was now furious. He shoved her back on the ground, holding her arm over her head, placing his hand on it, holding it there despite her resistance.

"You're making me insane."

He brutally pushed himself inside her, squeezing her hand as he did so, angry at her, not caring that it took a few seconds for there to be any dampness between them.

"_**Stop**_ it," she glared at him.

"Why?" he taunted. "You have something against multiple orgasms?"

She closed her eyes in disgust. "You make me hate you."

"You don't hate me, you hate yourself."

"Trust me, I hate you."

He leaned down close to her, vigorously pushing into her. He watched her draw in a breath in response to him. She opened her eyes, digging her fingers into his shoulder.

"I was with you," she defended. "I played the game; I did what you wanted."

"You're still not going anywhere," he told her. "And we're going to be here all night," and then he swallowed her cry of protest.

She hated that she knew him. She hated that she still felt comfortable with him. His body was never foreign to her, even when he was angry with her and it seemed like revenge was the goal. His tongue was wet in her mouth, tempting her to respond. Her hand was on his face as she began kissing him back, but it was more as a way to have some control rather than as a reflection of having given in. He moaned into her mouth, and he then roughly turned her face, tracing it, lining it with his tongue. He made his way to her ear.

"No one will ever know your body like I do," he promised her.

"Don't say that," she sighed, shutting her eyes as if it would block out his voice.

"Stop," he ordered. "Stop acting like I'm making you a victim."

She exhaled and looked at him. "Then I'll ask you again. In the end, after it's all over, what is it that you're going to have wanted out of all of this?"

"It's not about what I want right now. It's what's going to happen. You're going to breathe, and writhe, and cry out my name, and then you're going to come, and after that, you're going to feel how much I need you."

XxX

It was later, she didn't know how long, there were no windows or a fucking clock in this kitchen, but she felt him convulsing into her, his body hard and heavy over her. She held onto his arms tightly and arched back, spiraling.

She'd lost track of everything and knew she had to speak or she wouldn't have a say before he began again.

"I can't, please," she gasped desperately, trying to push him off her so that she could breathe. She took four deep breaths. "I'm tired-I can't, and it _**does**_ hurt now."

He rose up gently, gathering her in his arms and pulled out of her as easily as he could.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and she breathed more easily then. "I'm sorry."

She reached up, her hand resting against his face.

"I know."

When her breaths went from gasping gulps to mere sighs, she asked him a question.

"Does being with me give you no satisfaction at all?"

"How can you ask me that?"

"Because nothing seems to make you feel like…stopping. Which - to a point - is flattering, but you're going way past the flattery line, and I'm just wondering, for the sake of argument, what is it?"

"We were always like this."

"No, we didn't always hate each other, Oliver."

"I don't hate you."

"Yes, you do. It doesn't matter that you're on top of me or that I'm pregnant and it's more than a year too late to deny it. But that's not my question."

"You know being inside you, feeling you is…it is like a drug. I need it and it's everything but I have you and then I need you again almost immediately. And not in an overpowering, son-of-a-bitch way, I just need to feel you again. And you're right. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's enough until I have you again."

"Maybe that's what you're feeling. Maybe you're not feeling this love you think or _**say**_ you have for me."

"I wasn't born yesterday. I'm able to distinguish between the two."

Her eyes made it clear she thought that was crap.

"Move," she said, pushing him off of her, grabbing her robe.

She covered her mouth and yawned.

"You lost count, didn't you?"

When she didn't answer and stared at him, a cocky smile emerged over his face.

"Oh my God, you don't even know what I'm talking about."

Her hand went to her heart and she shivered in revulsion at his meaning. "I need another shower. You're _**disgusting**_."

"I don't know what you were thinking, but I was referring to how many times we slept together," he said, still pretty happy.

She was horrified that she was covered in him. She looked at her arms and her body. "I mean it, I feel filthy. I can't believe you are allowed out in public."

He nodded carelessly and pulled her off the ground. "Yes well, let me take you to your room."

She rubbed her forehead. "You make my head hurt trying to keep up with you purposely trying to get a rise out of me all the time. Has it ever occurred to you that this is supposed to be my time off before I never get a moment's peace for the next twenty years? The pregnancy _**is**_ the time to rest, and the minor inconvenience of feeling like I've had the flu since day one has been nothing compared to your…" she couldn't even think of another insult. "Why do you act like you've accomplished something because you think you've identified an emotion and you've expressed it to me? You think I can't do the same? I'll tell you exactly how I feel. You're an asshole."

He looked confused. "That's not how you feel, that's a statement of fact."

The smile that emerged on her face caught her by surprise and she looked down, hoping that that would lessen the reaction. Then she looked back up at him with aggravation, though her smile hadn't completely faded.

"You will do anything, _**anything**_, and your whole life everyone told you that you were the best, so you have absolutely no doubts about it now. But while you and your little virtuous friends hide behind that protective curtain claiming I'm irrational, maybe at some point you could pull back just a little bit from being the person in the room always the most impressed with himself."

She knew he'd keep playing this game with her but she was worn out, so she turned away.

"I'm going to sleep, don't respond, _**please**_."

"After that bold statement?"

"You can't possibly be this bored, go away!"

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

**Notes: **This was difficult to write, and EXHAUSTING. As exhausted as they were, so was I. But the point that I hope I got across was that each time they slept together, a different layer of their relationship was expressed. Love, hate, addiction, anger, you name it.

The other thing that I love about them is that no matter what the other one does, they can take each other. They're able to play the game AND have each other's number. She can take his crap and he can bring the _**human**_ out of her. So if he's offensive, she can see it and own it and then let it go. Others would either not notice, or get so offended that it'd be over.

Now, of course, _**them**_ realizing this is once again the challenge. Oliver is pretty secure at this point, Tess…Tess, poor Mercy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

He was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. For the first time in a long time, a smile touched her lips at the sight of him.

"I guess I fell asleep before I could kick you out."

She didn't want to think about how long he'd been watching her, but when his fingers lightly touched her hair, she sighed and turned over.

"Jesus, Oliver, you're already thinking about the next time we can have sex. And if nothing else, I can't tell you how absolutely unattractive I feel right now."

He came over, moving on top of her blanket-covered body.

"Why would you feel unattractive?" he asked as if it were the most absurd thing he'd ever heard.

"Take a wild guess. Trust me, in the months to come I won't have to push you away. My body will be completely different, _**I **_will be completely different and you will not want to be looking at me while I have someone else's vomit on my chest. You'll be the same; you will be exactly the same."

"You know, there's a statute of limitations on how long you can blame someone for something. Maybe I'm not the one who needs to find a new theme."

She turned and looked up at him for a minute before leaning back and smiling sadly. "If only I could've warned myself, back then. If I could've warned myself about who you were going to be, that I wouldn't have been strong enough and that I would be so easy for Lex to manipulate then I could've been someone else, like you said. I could've been that little girl who only cared about saving the planet. That could've been my life."

"That's probably the first honest thing you've said to me in a long time."

"I just woke up."

"You still came from nothing and made yourself everything you are. And that person is someone who stands up every time."

She didn't respond, which...wasn't an altogether bad thing.

"Is there anything I can do besides get out of your life?" he asked, brushing his fingers along her face.

"Yeah, there is," she replied, raising herself up a little. "If this child is a boy, I do not want you parading your open relationships with women in front of him. It is not going to fly with me for you to set the example for him that using women and yourself for that matter is an okay way to live because you have money and an identity to hide behind."

"But…it'd be okay if we had a daughter?"

Seeing her not thrilled by his response, he defended himself.

"No, it's a legitimate question."

"A daughter would feel what ninety percent of all women feel about men. Unworthy and undeserving and therefore she will then strive her whole life to get the affection she had always been unable to obtain. A son, on the other hand, would _**idolize**_ you. He would imitate you because you are a superhero. And who would I be? The mother who always told him no. And more than that, I'd be the villain, right? So you would win. And that is never going to happen in my lifetime. So knock it off. You want to live that way, do that to me, yourself, the women? Fine, but not in front of my child. If I see you do that, I don't care what you do to my credit cards, I will hijack an airport if that's what it takes."

Her eyes were those eyes that scared him again. They were never that way before Lex. He'd taught her well. Before Lex, they were full of love, urgency, and need. Now, at the flip of a switch, they were able to take him down. She pushed him off of her.

"I will break you down," Oliver vowed threateningly, latching onto her arm. "I will make you give into this no matter how long it takes."

"Unlike you, for the rest of my life, I have another million things on my mind to think about." She pulled her arm free. "You know where the door is."

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~

**Notes: **MUCH shorter chapter to make up for the huge chapter before! But I'll update faster next time. The next chapter involves actual guards being brought down in an emotional way and Clois.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Oliver sat on his couch trying to call her after three weeks of reasonable tranquility.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," she answered.

"Right where?"

"At your penthouse."

He assumed something was wrong and when she arrived, he gathered he'd been right.

"What's the matter?" he asked her before she'd taken two steps inside.

"Why do you always ask me that?"

"Even if I'd never met you, I could tell something was wrong."

She wanted to have a witty comeback, but she hadn't even been aware that something was especially wrong, so her mind went in search of what he'd identified.

"Tess?"

She snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm okay."

She stepped up to him. He noticed that she was not dressed in her usual 'Lex Luthor' perfectly tailored attire, though someone else might not have picked up on it without having known what she'd worn before.

"If I gave you the baby would you let me leave without fighting me?"

He tried to think of the right response - if there was one. She didn't sound like she was trying to deceive him, but that made it even harder to know what to say.

"You wouldn't do that."

She nodded as if that wasn't the point. "Just…answer the question."

The question was ridiculous to him. "_**No**_," he replied unabashedly.

His hand went under her shirt, for the first time going to her stomach to feel the baby that he'd purposely avoided discussing. She felt uncomfortable for a second, not from him but because of the slight change in her body, but then she rested a hand over his wrist. Her eyes filled with tears and he knew they were not tears of joy.

"Is it okay?" he asked. "Everything you need, everything you've needed to do, is it okay?"

"You've never said anything," she replied with expressive eyes. "You've never talked about it, not really."

"I didn't want you to think that's what this was about. It's not, but that doesn't mean I don't think about it."

"Everything's fine," she assured. "I've been doing everything I'm supposed to."

"Are you going to find out what it is?"

"Next month," she nodded. "You'll know, of course you'll know."

"Can I be there in the delivery room?"

She looked as if he'd just backed her into a corner. "How am I supposed to respond to that?"

Oliver removed his hand from her stomach. "However you want to."

She hesitated and then walked into his arms, resting her face against his shoulder. "I don't know how to respond when you act like a human being," she said softly. "When you make a reasonable request that I am completely opposed to."

He held her tightly, enclosing his arms around her, wanting to make her feel secure enough that she would never leave.

"Why did you ask me that?" he asked into her hair.

She didn't turn her face to him. It took everything just to let her tears fall onto his shoulder silently and not become a sobbing idiot.

"Because now it's different. Now it's real. In the beginning, in that moment it was mine. I had something. And now it's just like everything else. I know that someday this child will find something out, something I did or something I will do and it will be no different than anything else in my life. And I thought it would be different, I don't know, maybe it will be. But to give what you have to give as a mother, and have your child hate you…that should've occurred to me. That should've occurred to me immediately."

She raised a hand up to his shoulder to hold onto it, no longer feeling that she could stand on her on.

"So maybe you should…and I could leave-"

"Don't," he said, kissing her hair.

He tried to lower her to the floor and she protested.

"I'm not going to touch you, just sit down," he insisted.

He sat on the floor and gathered her on his lap, resting her against him, holding her.

"You are tired, aren't you?" he half teased, barely getting an exhaled laugh from her. "I know you're scared, but we can prevent the baby finding something out one day and doing something you fear. I will help you explain the truth from day one. I haven't had a clean past either and having our child know about both of us, _**from**_ us is the best way anyway."

"And how soon would you like it to be taken from us?"

"I don't mean that we reveal everything the minute it's born - you know that," he whispered soothingly as he caressed her hair. "But I'm not going to let anything I ever had a part in ever destroy something else in your life."

"You'll be screaming at me," she argued, aggravated.

"I'm not screaming."

"How many fights have we had since I've been pregnant?"

"That's not the point."

"That _**is**_ the point."

"No, not really. It doesn't matter if we fight, it matters that I'm on your side. And I am."

He felt her exhale as he stroked her hair and he could feel the disbelief in her breath.

"Look at me," he said. "_**Look**_ at me," he commanded when she refused.

When she looked up she saw the look she'd seen so many times.

"We both changed the rules," he told her. "We're going to fight. You're different and so am I. And I thought back then that who you were was what I wanted. And then I saw you again and you had changed so much that I didn't understand. And now, I want all of it. I want all the pieces, Tess."

"Could you just hold me for a few minutes?" she asked softly.

He used the arm that held her body to gather her to his mouth and kiss her forehead.

"There's a reason you don't betray a strong-willed person. They never forget it," he smiled.

She closed her eyes and rested her hand against his chest.

"You be strong-willed for a few minutes."

He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, that every part of his body ached for her, but he got the feeling that hearing that would just make her more exhausted. It destroyed him that the words that used to fill her up now seemed so empty and meaningless to her. He watched her fall asleep and he chose to believe in her trust and love anyway. He took a handful of her hair and inhaled it, drinking in her scent, noticing a slight difference in it because of the pregnancy. He then lifted her limp hand and slipped two of her fingers into his mouth, closing his eyes as he tasted her.

Not at all unaware of his infatuation, he worried for the first time that when the baby was born that he might resent it for all the time it would take from Tess that had once belonged to him.

He pushed away that unwanted thought and rocked her gently.

A few moments had passed when he heard noise from the elevator. Keeping Tess close, he watched the doors open, somehow knowing his friends would be the ones standing on the other side of them. Lois, being the first to see Oliver on the floor, immediately took Clark's hand to halt and silence him.

"Clark," she whispered.

Tess moaned in discomfort as she reluctantly awakened because of the disturbance. Oliver cupped her head and kept it against his chest, not wanting her to see Lois or Clark.

"Shhh, I've got you," he whispered, keeping her close. "It's okay. Go back to sleep."

He used gentle kisses to coax her back to into that peaceful sleep, leaving Lois and Clark patiently waiting and puzzled by the first tender moment they'd witnessed between them.

"I'm going to put you on the couch but I'm not going anywhere. That okay?"

They couldn't hear Tess's reply, but apparently she said something. Her red hair spilled over the hand that he used to hold her head up as he kissed her forehead.

"Come here," he said to her. "Put your arms around me."

She let all the air out of her lungs and turned completely to him, her chest against his and her hands over his shoulders. Lois guessed that despite any lack of having been present in their relationship that that much ease hadn't been there often in recent times.

Oliver chose to be extremely careful in gathering her off the floor, doing it in delicate stages. He had her against him, completely surrendered, and he wasn't going to rush moving her despite Lois and Clark waiting for him.

When he began to lift her, Clark instinctually went forward to help. Lois lovingly held him back.

"Don't," she said softly, looking up at him. "She'd know if someone else's hands were on her. He's a hero too. Let him do it."

"You could tell," he said, remembering Lois's reaction to Zod.

"Shhh, yes," she nodded, smiling.

Oliver made it a process to get her on the couch, but after he did, he stayed there for a minute or two while Lois retrieved a blanket, knowing where one was kept. Once Oliver finally felt secure in leaving her, he motioned to Lois and Clark to head to his bedroom.

"That was well done," Lois stated with a small smile.

"Is she okay?" Clark asked a little more seriously.

"She will be."

"What happened?"

"She's really tired. She came here and actually offered to give me the baby so she could leave. I said no, of course, and she cried and fell asleep. She's just…tired."

"She actually said that?" Lois asked.

"Yeah, she's just scared. She's freaking out and she doesn't trust me right now and trying to get her to is like trying to get someone like you…" he said looking at Lois and her eyes perked up immediately.

"To what?"

Clark laughed softly at Oliver's face.

"I just got her asleep and I get you mad at me," Oliver grinned.

"I hate to say this, but maybe you should take her up on her offer," Clark suggested.

"Which offer would that be?" Lois asked, pressing a bit.

Clark knew from that tone of her voice that he might be bordering trouble, but he had his point of view and he felt strongly about it.

"You should take the baby when she has it and let her leave the country," Clark declared.

Lois was appalled.

"Clark, tell me you didn't just say that," she fumed, not even looking at him.

"You know I'm right; you know what she's done. I know that she's trying but her offer is a good sign. You know that."

"Despite your attempts at me never knowing, I actually do. But I also know that you are so unbelievably out of your mind to suggest something like that."

"You are taking it personally. You're thinking about it like a woman."

Lois felt physically struck by his words, but refused to stand there, wounded. "Oh yeah, you're right, Clark. Why don't you tell me how I should be thinking about it?"

"Voices guys. And you know what?" Oliver intervened.

"Shut up, I'm not finished," Lois said, now extremely angry.

"I only meant you could be a mother someday," Clark said, trying to smooth over how he had come across to her.

"Wow, so despite not being the perfect delicate princess that you're used to, I'm apparently still capable of giving birth. Am I allowed to keep my baby?"

"Why are you acting like this? Why are you supporting her after all the damage she's done?"

"I'm not! I'm just not gleaming with delight over that kind of statement! Have you been paying attention to anything? Have you spent any single moment alone with her during this entire thing? She's in there right now exhausted, sleeping, and actually carrying the baby. I've watched her be sick, scared, in pain, bruised, and trying so hard to figure out a way to make this work while Oliver's main concern is to get her back in a really strange way. He's not wrong but his concern has not been about the baby."

"What do you mean 'strange way'?" Oliver asked.

"Point made!" Lois yelled at Clark.

Oliver looked towards the couch, wincing with nervousness. Lois couldn't be any louder when she was angry.

"We're talking about the baby and he's not even paying attention. So don't stand there so easily and act like she's an incubator or a vessel for a child that should just be handed to Oliver, who's such a model father."

"I appreciate that remark, and nobody's taking the baby, so shut up!" When Lois turned from Clark to him, he calmed himself down. "You think I want her waking up and hearing either of you saying anything about taking the baby away from her? If you did anything more to scare her, you both would think being locked in a room fighting about this would be like a trip to the South Pacific."

"You're not going to take the baby," Clark confirmed.

"I'm not going to have to," Oliver said. "She's not going anywhere."

"And whose decision is that?" Lois inquired.

"I'm working on that."

Lois understood, better than he thought she did. "Oliver, I know that you want this, but is this the kindest thing to do right now?"

"I need her. You don't understand-"

"I _**do**_ understand," Lois pushed. "I hear you. But it's not just-"

"Lois," Clark said, wrapping his arms around her. "Stop," he said gently.

"He needs to understand," Lois insisted.

"He does, and this isn't our business. Let's go before she wakes up; come on."

"I have to help."

"You will. _**We**_ will. We'll be there when they need us."

"Now it's they?" she asked him.

He began to urge her out of the room and she was unwilling at first, but quickly let him lead her away from Oliver after hesitating for a moment. Oliver tapped on Clark's shoulder.

"Tread carefully after that 'woman' remark. And good luck with that," he teased to the taller man as he showed them both out.

XxX

Lois was silent, pondering quietly as she stared out the window on the drive home. Clark waited for her to say something and the longer she didn't, the more curious and frankly nervous, he became.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her.

She waited a few seconds before answering, and when she did, she didn't move her eyes from the window she was staring out of. "I'm thinking about them, what they're feeling. Tess tried to tell me that I didn't understand what it was like, what their relationship was like and at the time I chalked it up to her just being the bitch that I know she is. And now, now I see that…whatever that looneyville universe of sex, fighting, and making up is, I know I don't thrive on that kind of life with someone. I see that it's love, I get it, but it's still a love that I can't identify with."

Then she looked at Clark's blue eyes.

"I don't know what they were like when they were in _**their**_ realm of normal, but now he needs her so badly that he doesn't care about right or wrong. He'll do anything to her. I wouldn't have ever done that to you. If you didn't want me then you could walk out and you know what? Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

When she realized that might not have come out exactly the way she intended, she winced comedically and then she tried to explain.

"You and I both always gave each other the option of not having to be with each other if we were not completely there for each other. Because we don't hate each other. We don't thrive on that kind of vengeance."

He reached across and brushed her cheek with his finger.

"Our love isn't less than theirs, Lois. You don't have to prove anything because you haven't destroyed anything. And if you did, we'd _**really**_ forgive. You're the one who stands up for what's right. It's not me."

He pulled into the driveway.

"And that's why you're the one."

She nodded, the glow in her eyes slightly fading.

"Sometimes I just wonder if I'm the one by default," she replied, unfastening her seatbelt and getting out of the car.

Clark was in front of her instantly, his speed causing her hair to fly back as he surprised her.

"Clark!" she said, still slightly frustrated when he used his powers like that.

"Default? What does that mean?"

Lois, usually always up for battle and always wanting the last word, felt a lack of self-confidence and energy right now. She pushed him away and tried to turn towards the house.

"You know what it means, and I don't want to talk about it right now."

He grabbed her arm and knocked her against the car, more to irritate her than to hurt her.

"Why are you suddenly scared of trusting me? Because you loved Oliver? Because he was your first love and because I had a first love? Do you have any idea how much stronger I am because of you? I would never be who I am now if not for you."

"Oliver and I were nothing like you and Lana. And if she were here, if she had stayed _**any**_ of the times that she came back, I'm not so sure that you wouldn't have drifted back to her. You're with me because I stayed."

"Are you with me because of my abilities?"

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Your abilities don't help you to understand anything. I loved you so much. I stood there, _**needing**_ you and you couldn't see me at all. I loved you before there was a Blur, a hero to worship, or someone for you to be jealous of. You loved someone else and I was just the person who tagged along and irritated you."

"Yes! On a momentary basis. But I need that! I need you to do everything that you do."

He lifted her up, stepping between her legs as she fell back against the car window.

"I choose you," he whispered softly, brushing his lips against hers. "Trust me. You know you're better than being 'default' to anyone. You're Lois Lane."

Lois still felt unused to loving someone so completely. She kissed him back, curling her fingers through his hair. She knew that her unwavering love for him would be the lasting constant in her life.

"Maybe I should call Lana up again, get her back here."

"Fine," he said between kisses. "You could use another bridesmaid."

Clark lowered his mouth over hers again, feeling her smile beneath his kiss and cry out softly when he ran his thumb over her nipple.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

**Notes: **Lots of relationship content in this one. Since you just read it, I'll start with Clois. While they might seem OOC in my fic, to me, they're not because I felt that Season 9-10 was actually a bit out of character. I felt that Lois and Clark were not written as deeply or as passionately as they should've been after Bride. So when I wrote this fic, I wondered if I should write them the way I've always written them or if I should succumb to _**their **_newer, lighter version that I'm not as satisfied with.

In the end I chose to stay true to my POV of Tom and Erica's Clois.

I was also really happy to show that Lois would and will defend Tess, perhaps automatically and unintentionally as time passes.

And Tollie, 'course. When she has no more strength left, she gives herself to him and does trust him to keep her from drowning. Not everything is about power and victimization. Not at all.


	12. Chapter 12

**Side note: **I wrote this in the summer of 2010 and that was obviously _**before**_ the episode of "Abandoned" came out and before Tess was announced as Lex's half sister. So, in this story, remember there is no Season 10, Granny Goodness, or Darkseid.

And in trying to keep the chapters short, there are a lot of them, but I wanted you to be able to get through them quickly. So enjoy!

Banter banter banter!

**Chapter 12**

Oliver sat on the floor by Tess's feet reading paperwork as she slept. It was comforting to have her there and remember the only woman he'd ever actually lived with and have her near him again. He'd spent time with Chloe, but he hadn't considered that a 'living with' situation, even if they'd occupied the same space for a short time.

He knew she was waking up when he heard her take in a deep breath and bury her face into the pillow. He smiled a little and touched her leg.

"How long did I sleep?"

"I don't know, an hour, roughly."

A smile touched her lips and she reached a hand down to him. "Thank you."

He didn't expect her to pull away so abruptly and smooth her hair, standing to leave like he was nothing more than a hotel.

"You don't have to leave," he called after her, quickly getting to his feet.

"No, I do," she said, still very tired. "I need to go."

He reached out and grabbed onto her but she flinched.

"Please don't," she said, but he kept coming at her. "Oliver! I'm not trying to be difficult!" She covered her face with her hands for a moment, trying to halt her tears. "Do you think this is easy for me? Do you think that I'm so cold, so hard that it's easy for me to push you away all the time? I'm not as unfeeling as you've made me out to be but I need to go home right now. So back off for tonight."

She turned from him.

"You fired the manager of security at the airport," he said after her.

She sighed impatiently.

"And what?" she said, turning back to him. "If you had done it, it would be completely justified because of who are? Because you're a better person? Because you were born with the money and the power you make these decisions with that I wasn't?"

"Did you sleep with Lex?"

She was thrown by _**that**_ subject change.

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate the implication that I was paid for sexual favors."

"Hey," he replied, inching closer to her. "If you let the devil-"

She hit him-not as hard as usual, but enough to silence him and enough to inflict pain. Offended would've been a mild description of her feelings at that moment, and she wasn't about to stand there and listen to his vulgarity running its course.

"Did you?" he asked again, stunning her with his nerve.

"If you had asked me that _**nicely**_, I would've told you to go to hell. From day one of knowing you, knowing all of the women you've slept with, I have never asked you to tell me anything about them. I don't care if you have a history with Lex, he is my business and there is no reason you should ever know it."

She turned again but he caught her arm, receiving a vicious glare from her.

"There _**is**_ a reason!"

"Why? Why would I ever tell you something like that?"

"Because I am the love of your life and there's nothing you can do about it."

He was now glaring back at her, waiting, seeing if he could win. And he did, he'd won more often throughout the years they'd known each other than she'd care to remember.

"Why…" she couldn't think of what to say anymore. "I'm out of ways to try to explain to you," she said, shaking slightly with frustration. "I could've left here with a good memory, I could've left calm, _**not**_ angry, and then you had to come after me and bitch at me and wipe away a moment where I did trust you. What are you going to do, scream at me every second up until my last contraction and as soon as I'm out of the hospital start up again? No one can put up with that forever."

"You were the one walking away from that trust."

"I was going home! Stop acting like I was committing some act of personal betrayal."

"I'm not asking for erotic gratification, Tess."

"How can you still be on that? I'm not discussing him with you! You think you can tell me your deranged view about who you are to me and that will make me want to confide in you about him? I _**can**_ change things. In one second, Lana changed everything I ever felt about Lex."

"I hate him just as much as you do."

Her eyes went back and forth across the ceiling above him, thinking about those last words.

"Not _**really**_," she replied.

He stared at her with persistence, struggling not to be an asshole, but he was disgusted with the images in his head of her with him. Had Lex told her what Oliver had done to him and his friend when they were children, possibly pushing Lex into that corner of darkness and cruelty that had fueled into the hatred he and Oliver had shared towards each other for the rest of their lives? Most of the time, even when Oliver had come at her or wanted her from day one in Lex's mansion, or when they had simply fought with slivers of sexual tension hidden behind the anger, Lex's presence in Oliver's mind was kept under wraps. And it was definitely well tucked away in his fantasies late at night - most of the time, because the last thing he felt for Lex was romantic jealousy.

"There's nothing you're going to let go at this point between us, are you?" she said, more as a statement than a question. "I never did this to you. I did a lot of horrible things, but I never pulled this on you."

She leaned in slightly, as if that would help him hear her better. "Lex never cared about me at all. And even when I thought he did, and I cared about him, it wasn't about being in love, and it wasn't about sex. Not everything is about that. It was about something so…it was like being given the ability to be something more. And in return he would let me in, and I could give him what he never had. I'd be anything for him and he'd make me into something that wasn't so easy to break."

It embarrassed her to talk about him with Oliver.

"And I didn't know at the time that he knew you, or that he probably plucked me from every other broken child out there so he could later laugh at the both of us. It wasn't about you, you self-righteous bastard. It was about me, and what I wanted to be when I was with someone else. Is that alright with you? Is that a descriptive enough answer for you?"

She knew how to respond in a way that even when he knew she was in pain, he still wanted to rip her head off. She slithered each individual word, knowing how to say it, deliver it, and make it have an impact.

"Just…get in the elevator," he said to her.

She knew that he had an agenda attached to that sentence.

"Just go."

"Why, what are you doing?"

"It's an elevator, Tess, you get in it and it takes you somewhere. Move."

~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~

-I so would've preferred Lex to have been a slight bit of a threat to Oliver than what they decided to do. I swear, I may just live in my own universe as often as I can.


	13. Chapter 13

**-Personal favorite chapter of mine…**

**Chapter 13**

Oliver gave her some peace and quiet in the car as he sped to some remote location, refusing to clue her in on where. She rolled down the window and let the cool air blow against her face as he drove. The ability to exhaust and infuriate each other came from the inability to literally stay out of each other's vortexes. The sole purpose for their first breakup had been that they were unprepared for how to handle each other.

He knew he'd screwed up by not letting her leave earlier, by pushing her, and that he was lucky she was in the car with him at all now, so he worked to be as relaxed as he could so that she would be too. If he was burning with anger at her, he knew that she'd feel it. He remembered when she first came to Smallville that her anger had shocked him, he had been surprised by her power and spitefulness. And yet, because of how she felt, he rapidly caught up to her and reciprocated her emotions. She had always thought that he had the power over her, but it wasn't true. She could manipulate him so easily.

He pulled up into the driveway of an estate tucked away in the green fields of Kansas and yanked the brake.

"I'm…not in the mood to see anyone, Oliver."

_**I look like hell, and you're one step away from having your head mounted above my fireplace.**_

"I'm really not trying to put you in anymore distress tonight. Come on."

She leaned back against her seat, bending her neck side to side to try and relieve the stress before getting out of the car to follow him.

He opened the door to the roughly 8,000 square foot house that she could barely see in the dark and she stepped inside after him. He didn't say anything as he turned to her, waiting quietly for a reaction. She looked up at his expression and gathered that she was supposed to proceed further inside.

She wondered at first if this was a house of his, something he wanted for himself if he were going to be the family man. But taking in the taste of the house, the late 1970s flair to it, she thought again. He followed her into the solarium and immediately she recognized the hand sewn pillow on the couch. It was the first thing to stand out in the expensively decorated, perfectly kept mansion. A sharp pain struck Tess's heart when she saw the pillow, and then suddenly all the pieces were obvious to her, screaming at her, and she recognized the life she was standing in.

She walked around the main the floor, taking it all in, loving the photos, the knick-knacks, the souvenirs from the millions of places they'd traveled before she'd ever been born; she didn't know them, but she tried to imagine a loving family, not the one she'd had.

"How often do you come here?" she asked him, eyeing a photograph of the young couple.

"Not that often, but I needed to make this for them."

"To pretend like they're still here, I know. I remember the first time I saw that pillow, reading what it said. I remember because it was something so simple in a world where you can afford anything. And the simplicity of it made it mean so much more."

"I would've brought you here and told them that we were going to have a baby-and that you just barely tolerated me. They would've been well aware of who I was and instantly sided with you, and they would've been really happy."

She didn't really pay attention to his make-believe vision of the four of them having an evening together, she was more engulfed in his pain, in this world he'd created for himself to cope with his loss. She hated herself now for having been so goddamned angry and insensitive over his drinking after she'd told him who was responsible for killing them…the parents he'd ached for all of his life. Yeah, she'd intended for him to have closure, but she knew it would hurt him to find out the truth, and she'd laughed at his pain when she saw it because she was glad he felt anything.

"But they're not here," he continued. "I can't tell them who you are and how much I love you. I can't see them and explain things to them. Sometimes I can come here and imagine they're alive, that they're with me, but I know they're not. But you are."

He already had her by the time he held out his hand to her, asking her to come to him. She wasn't even angry that he owned every part of her in that moment. Instead she almost wanted to laugh at the sheer audacity of the way they were. She kicked her heels off and placed her hand in his, effortlessly walking into his arms. She cupped his face, rising up on her tired feet to caress his skin with her lips, feeling sympathetic tears gathering in her eyes.

He flattened her body tightly against his, locking her there, needing that security. She heard her sharp intake of breath, remembering that she was the first person he'd ever had to confide in about anything, and perhaps even now, she was still a safe place to him.

"I know," she whispered comfortingly, not minding his roughness or his grief.

Despite having once been a more innocent teenager herself, she'd never been particularly subtle either.

Oliver held onto her, making her feel almost responsible and she wanted to remind him that she came into his penthouse at seventeen, parentless herself. She did know what it felt like to feel abandoned. Her father's death had been a blessing after all the years of abuse, but it didn't fill the void to be left behind a second time.

"I'm sorry," she said to him, kissing his chin. "I didn't have to tell you the way I did and then behave the way I did afterwards. I knew how much you loved them."

"It's okay."

"No, no it's not," she insisted, pulling back so that she could look at him. "No one deserves to be treated like that over the death of their parents, no one."

"You didn't do anything but tell me the truth…bluntly. It's kind of part of your charm."

"I'm not…proud of that."

"Did you ever meet Lionel? And I know I've already asked something tonight that I had no business asking, but Clark decided that he was loyal to Lionel because he believed in the Traveler. Never mind any of Lionel's crimes. So I was just wondering if you ever met him because I know the one thing you disagreed with Lex on was Clark."

Tess still wished that her entire history with the Luthors could just remain in the past, never to be brought up again. It was so intimate to her for a number of different reasons and she never wanted it revealed. But standing in the present now, seeing Oliver looking at her, needing an answer and trying not to be demanding about it, she wanted to give him the closure she probably failed in giving him two years ago.

"Once, when I first met Lex. It was brief. He tried to warn me. He told me that Lex would destroy me, maybe not even meaning to, but that's what he does. Lionel even told me that it was probably because of the way he'd raised him. And he told me about Clark. Lionel told me about Clark before Lex did. He told me what Lex thought of Clark and that it was wrong. He told me so vaguely, so obscurely that I had no idea what or even who he was talking about. I never knew, it was simply a warning that I would either agree with Lex someday or I wouldn't. And that was it, really. But of course I believed in Lex so completely that I investigated Lionel sometime later, and I found out what he did to you."

Oliver saw her waiting for his reaction, hoping she'd given him an answer that would help. He smiled at her sudden vulnerability.

"You have a much better ability than Clark to walk away when someone's betrayed you."

Her eyes looked to the right, derisively.

"Thank you," he replied as he brought her forehead to his, making her smile.

"Do you remember when I went into the kitchen the morning after my birthday party, what you said to me?"

"I remember the plate plummeting at my head."

"I was washing a dish and you told me it'd be better if I did it without clothes on."

"I was merely mocking you for doing dishes in the first place. I didn't expect you to hit me with my own plate."

She shook her head a little, remembering that as the first time he'd revealed his more 'insulting' sarcasm to her.

"It was funny, though," he grinned, moving her head to his shoulder and continuing to hold her.

"It was good practice for all the times I'd have to physically harm you for some vile remark."

His strong hand caressed her face gently, soothing her. She felt at ease again, like she could relax and let him take care of her. If she really were as unreasonable as he probably made her out to be in his head, she would've stopped caring for him a hundred years ago.

Oliver lifted her face up to his, her lack of heels leaving her a few inches shorter than usual. He watched her eyes for a few seconds, receiving only a mild, timid response from her. She wasn't sure if she meant to but she lowered her eyes, giving him the permission that he immediately took advantage of. She felt the contact of his mouth against hers, her hands sliding up his shoulders as she worked to slowly caress her lips with his. With one hand smoothly holding her face, she felt his other one sweep down under her shirt and she pulled back slightly, shuddering as his teeth still tugged slightly on her lip.

"It's hard not to, isn't it?" she whispered, feeling his body straining to be with hers.

He kissed her again, this time not being gentle or slow, but it was more out of desperation than out of a need to have any power over her. She reciprocated, slipping her tongue into his mouth, licking his lips and running her hands along his shoulders as he worked overtime to erase any space between them. She thought that she could keep up, that she could comfort him, and she wondered if this was what he felt like when he was said that he was scared of her.

He tilted her face back with his lips, running them down her neck, flicking at her slacks with his fingers.

Turning her head back down to his, "Oliver-"

He kissed her, simultaneously unbuttoning the top button and sliding his fingers in, forcing the zipper down. Quickly he nibbled his way to her ear, clouding her thoughts.

"I want to put my fingers in you," he said softly, pressing his fingers against her.

She clenched against him, reaching her own hand down to block him from continuing.

"Oliver-wait," she cried, feeling him place kisses along her lips and making a path to her earlobe.

"Do you remember when I could make you come just by talking to you?"

He bit the shell of her ear deliberately, running his tongue along the edge of it. His fingers probed at her delicately, but he was the one feeling the effects more. She pulled away from his mouth, attempting to hold in any sighs or moans when he brought her face to his.

"Yes," she gasped after inhaling sharply from his fingers sinking deeper. "Don't-"

"Just tell me what you feel," he told her, covering her mouth and putting pressure on her, but waiting like she requested before carrying out any of the penetration that he knew she liked.

She yelped softly into his mouth, feeling his fingers sink lower and she pushed his fingers away before he could slide them in her.

"Don't you distract me," she sighed, almost smiling at his ruthless attempts. "You know what I feel."

He held her face, breathing just as hard as she was.

"Tell me it's more than just sex."

"It's more than anything. Sometimes more than I can take."

"I want you to want to take it. I want to take it for the rest of my life and I want you to want it with me. And you're right, it is more. Even more than love. And you _**get**_ that."

He swallowed her then, consuming her mouth and dragging her to the couch, bending her back over the edge, his hands working to finish what they'd started. He was so determined that the process of removing clothes was no longer a necessity, he was just aggressively undoing her slacks while attacking her mouth with his own. She wasn't accustomed to any man behaving like that with her but him, and it still wasn't something she knew how to respond to easily.

She felt his need, and despite the desperation she knew it was genuine, but he'd made her crazy earlier and she would've preferred that maybe, once in awhile they could just have a normal evening. It wasn't that she wasn't responding, it wasn't that she couldn't respond without foreplay or that she couldn't respond after being angry at him, which frankly didn't make her thrilled, but that wasn't the point. She needed the willpower to stop him despite the lust he inflicted on her.

Oliver could kiss the kind of kiss that didn't allow her to not respond, and as he pulled her slacks down her hips and she forced her head to the side.

"Oliver, please, I need you to stop. Come here," she said to him, cupping his face and bringing it to hers, slowing him down, trying to soothe him by not stopping abruptly, but by simply easing the process.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, breathless, his hands coming to her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. I kissed you back, but I…I need you to take me home. I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

"Is it the baby?"

"No," she said, caressing the side of his face. She didn't want to explain why because there wasn't a specific reason that would make this situation different than others they'd been in. "I'm not angry with you, any more than usual," she smiled, trying to balance her affection without teasing him anymore. "And I don't want you to do something stupid, something unnecessary. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not trying to pull away from you. And I wouldn't put it past you to lock me in a room and then I would have to blow your head off. So don't do that."

She pulled forward, glad she was an aggressive aikido trainer as she remained bent back over the couch with him over her, and she kissed him softly on the lips. She felt his tension build against her mouth and he pulled her up, startling her slightly. He broke the kiss but didn't pull back very far.

"Get in the car," he told her, starting to move her.

"Well, do you mind if I get my shoes and button my pants?"

He acted like that was an imposition. She'd already fastened her slacks and moved across the room to slip on her heels before he could have a further reaction. She didn't know she was taking far too long until she looked up, seeing Oliver glaring at her.

"Do you want a glass of water?" she asked him.

"No, I want you to get in the car," he snapped, causing a slightly gloating smile to emerge over her lips.

She tried to cover it up as she slipped her shoes on and walked past him. He, however, caught the sly grin on her face and grabbed her arm, not finding it amusing.

"You laugh now, but think back to all the nights you kept me up unable to get enough of me."

His heart raced as he saw the memories splash over her captivating eyes, loving that he was able to make her remember by his words, before watching her eyes leave his and go to the hand that he had on her wrist.

She pulled it free, breaking the connection, irritated yet again.

"You think you can drive? Or are you going to need some assistance in the car?"

"Are you offering?"

"I don't know. Being four months pregnant might mean nothing to you, but I'd like to be safe before I over-do anything else. And that does seem a little bit more Chloe's style."

He nodded, remembering this side of her very well.

"Yeah, you definitely bring out the ruthless bitch when it suits you, don't you?"

"You'd be well to remember that every time you try to make me feel like I can't stand up to you. You can take from me all you want but you're not winning as much as you think."

"And even if I'm not, I'm still not backing down and you're still not going anywhere."

"I didn't say I was. Not tonight anyway."

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

**Notes: **Hee hee, this was a difficult chapter for me to write in that I was really feeling the passion between them and it was aggravating when I knew I would _**stop **_them. That's like…sacrilege. I _**hate**_ when authors do that when the scene's getting hot. And for some reason, that love scene I just wrote was working better (in my mind) than other ones I've written. But I knew that I wouldn't want her to go through with it. She doesn't have to say yes to him _**every**_ time, that's not realistic, LOL. So of course THIS one had to flow better. Grrrrrr.

But these lines…

"_**Tell me it's more than just sex."**_

"_**It's more than anything. Sometimes more than I can take."**_

"_**I want you to want to take it. I want to take it for the rest of my life and I want you to want it with me. And you're right, it is more. Even more than love. And you get that."**_

…pretty much sums up their relationship to me, so I was really thrilled with this chapter because I thought for once I did them a sliver of the justice they deserve for all of their glory.

And finally, she's starting to play with him back, without the idea in her head that she will leave at any minute.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"It's land."

"See, I knew that Harvard education would come in handy."

He moved her forward over the bare dirt.

"It's your land," he told her. "You don't need to stay in the fortress Lex left you. You can create your own home. I'm flying in three architects for you to choose from and you can have your own life for the baby. It won't be ready in five months, but it'll be yours."

"You're giving me this?"

"No, you're paying for everything yourself. You don't want my name on anything. You need something that's yours. I'm just showing you how much land Kansas actually has that shouldn't go to waste…and calling in a few favors to get the process started."

She had a hard time even looking at him. Was thank you an appropriate thing to say? She didn't even know if she should accept something like this, though it did seem like something long overdue.

"It may be yours, and you can make it anything you want, but I do hope that when it's finished that sometimes you'll open the door and let me in."

XxX

Tess was lost, anxious, and friendless. She was almost five months pregnant and although she wasn't dressing in maternity clothes or getting sappy looks from affectionate mothers yet, _**she**_ could tell even if others were still unaware.

A week ago, Oliver had confessed to her that Lois had shouted violently at him in her defense over the baby when Lois and Clark had dropped by during her nap on Oliver's couch. When Tess asked him why, he told her that although he'd never had any intention of taking the baby, Lois had rushed to conclusions, but the point was her defense of Tess, and that she should give Lois a break and feel a little of that support.

Unfortunately, the first thing Tess felt was hurt that Oliver didn't even wait for Tess to wake up before discussing her situation with people Tess didn't have a particularly close relationship with. Oliver tried to apologize and Tess listened, and then she tried to recognize his purpose in telling her. She reluctantly tried to accept Lois's bizarre protection.

That discussion now led Tess to Clark's farm for Lois's odd encouragement…if she would even bother giving any. Tess had nowhere else to go and she had nothing in particular to lose and by the time she'd realized how stupid the idea was she was already walking up the porch steps.

Clark's window was open and she heard their loud talking, stepping instantly to the wall to avoid making her presence known.

"I'm not saying I don't understand, I'm saying you took the easy way out."

"Easy, how was it easy?"

"Well, for one thing, you made the decision for both of us. You decided that I wasn't capable of knowing, so every time I found out you found some way to take away my memories so you wouldn't have to deal with what might happen."

"You know I was protecting you."

"Really? Just me? Because everyone else already knew."

"You were different! I've lost too many people to risk the one person I knew I couldn't live without."

"We lose people all the time, Clark. Who have I not lost? My entire family is crazy, I have a few scattered memories of my mother, and the one last family member I love would rather spend her time with you. So don't stand there like you have lost so much more than I have and I couldn't possibly understand your decisions, and the decisions _**you**_ took away from me."

Tess could hear in Lois's voice that she was trying to conceal her vulnerability.

"Relationships end for all kinds of reasons, but it doesn't mean you don't love each other. It doesn't mean it's not worth it or that you don't tell the person the truth. You don't stand across the room from them for years letting them think you don't care because you're afraid of what could happen. You literally don't have the right to make the decision for both of us. That's my life you were not letting me have a say in."

"You're saying I have to tell you how I feel to give you a say?"

"You shouldn't have erased my memories and lied to me. But aside from that, what you did was not heroic. You weren't protecting anyone. You should've told me you loved me a long time ago, regardless of any potential possible consequence. There's always a consequence. I love you, and I understand, and I'm not going anywhere. But you would've saved yourself a lot of pain and a lot of goodbyes if you had learned to tell the people you loved the truth a long time ago. If you had had faith in them."

Tess left immediately, whether it was because it was too intimate a discussion between them or because it because it was it hitting a personal nerve of her own, she wasn't sure. She ran down Clark's dirt driveway and stopped, looking down at her stomach. She placed a hand over it, no longer feeling strong, toned muscles beneath her fingers.

If Tess had been on the other side of Lois's argument, she could've fired back a lot stronger than Clark, but there was one comment that she's said that personally struck Tess. Was pulling away from the relationship making the decision for both people involved?

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

**Notes: **Because I have to put 'notes', right? It's like a commentary! Okay, first off, I feel _**so**_ strong about Pandora even after all this time. It's one of my all time favorite episodes, but Clark and Chloe wiping Lois's personal memories after bitching Tess out and then doing the exact same thing that they were claiming she was the devil for, well it pissed me off to the point of…never mind.

I love Lois and I wanted to give her a voice behind all of the suppression, all of the innocent stupidity they practically force on her that drives me crazy.

It's not that she wouldn't forgive Clark, but she might actually be the one person to stand up and tell him what an idiot he's being and that he's not heroic every time he uses his alien identity to lie or overpower someone else. (Can you tell I feel strongly? *grins*)

And that leads into Lois's voice banging into Tess's subconscious. Does Tess have the right to make the choice over both and Oliver's future based on fear? Is that ever a good decision, or is it even fair when you really love someone? Do you take the risk? What's the right choice?


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 – Final Chapter**

She felt like she'd run all the way there by the time she arrived to his empty living room. Slightly out of breath, she didn't call out for him, always having been more of an investigator. She found him coming out of his bathroom and didn't even wait for him to speak.

"Why do you make it so easy for anyone to walk in here with the life you lead?"

"You actually want to have that discussion with your level of security?"

He had a point. She couldn't remember a time she hadn't had to defend herself with the security Lex had set up. Oliver looked at her questioningly, waiting for a reason for her to have shown up at this hour.

"I hate dinner time," she told him.

When she didn't say anything else, he hesitated.

"I don't know what that means," he replied nervously.

She would've smiled at his rare modesty if she weren't trying to make him understand.

"I didn't have dinner as a child with family. My dad didn't eat with me often. I'd go into the kitchen at night and make something, a peanut butter sandwich or soup and I'd eat over it over the sink. And he'd be drinking so I'd hurry. He'd come at me and put me on the floor and then he'd hold me there. And he didn't beat me or touch me, he'd just keep me there for…I don't know, it seemed like forever. I didn't hate him until much later. At that point I just tried to imagine other things as I laid there. I gathered little things that gave me the idea of the ocean, of another world, and eventually I began to count on my mind as a way to leave. And I did leave."

She didn't really know where she was going with her words and she wasn't particularly sad, she was more trying to figure out a way to feel everything she'd suppressed and accept it, and maybe know for herself that she could have the power she thought she'd been given so misleadingly.

Exhaling a melancholy laugh, she continued. "When I was following the path of who _**I**_ was going to be, I was okay. And then I put too much of myself into what others thought of me, feeling as held down as I was back then. But you're right, Lana's right, none of them are with me and I'm the one who taught myself how to survive, which is more than they ever realized I was capable of doing. So what I'm saying, what I'm asking you, I need you to never stop fighting for me no matter how much I push you to. No matter what I ever do."

"Why?"

She narrowed her eyes a little as she tilted her head, incensed slightly that it was never enough.

"Don't look at me like I have six heads, you know why."

She still knew, though, that she'd come here for a reason, even if the determined winner in her didn't want to give into it.

"Come here," she said to him.

They could be so alike sometimes. They both tried to hide their vulnerability while exuding a confidence that was so over-done by now that it no longer did them any good. But as soon as he was standing in front of her, causing her to look up, she was inwardly fought between her aggravation and her love for him. It wasn't his fault anymore. It wasn't that he'd won, it was that she hadn't succeeded in ever getting over him in the first place.

"Do you have to look so depressed at this moment?" he asked her.

"I'm not depressed. I'm just contemplating a little. Apparently I'm wrong all the time but I still attempt to think about things. And if you were thinking, you wouldn't be looking at me like you didn't understand. Why are you only hesitant around me when I don't you to be?"

Like a reflex he reached for her face, almost insulted that she would say that to him. He held back though, just running his thumb along her cheek for a moment and then, feeling the same pull he always did, he kissed her. He didn't assault her mouth, but with her, gentleness wasn't a language he spoke either. He gathered that she wanted him to make the first move, but he pulled away and showered a few soft kisses on her cheek when she drew her arms up his back. He rested his face in her neck.

"Did Lex really watch us having sex?"

It took her a few seconds to realize what he was talking about and then she laughed, pulling back a little.

"I'm not sure about your timing, but I sympathize with the reaction. I forgot to worry about that until now, but I would hope that he turned away from his screen."

"What would you have to be worried about? What he saw was from your point of view!" he complained, making her laugh even more.

Flashing back in her mind, his point made Lex's possible action slightly more bearable, but not much. "Well, I charged your company for the surgery to have the cameras removed, so-"

"I don't remember an invoice."

"You think I expected you to notice a company invoice for that? But I think it was fair for Lex's company, the company I gave you, to cover that expense. Lex noticed everything. Apparently you, you overlook-a lot."

He didn't get insulted enough. He didn't know how to take them. She actually took pity on him.

"Don't rethink your entire life. If you can live your life with Green Arrow tucked away, you're probably paying attention."

"While I enjoy the late night play-by-play, you are waiting for me to say something to you so that you can say something back. And I'm going to be in so much trouble if I get it wrong, so I need you to throw me a bone."

"Yeah, I know you're trying, thank you," she mused. "Everything that you tell me you want, you've yet to achieve it but if I give it to you, would you want it because it's mine or because you would've gotten it out of me? You tell me not to dwell, but I can't completely disregard that you do get bored and leave me with the tasks you don't want to take care of."

"I reject your idea of throwing me a bone. What tasks?"

"How many times have you gone off, usually with some momentarily heroic female and left me to take care of the company that supposedly means so much to you?"

"It _**does **_mean a lot to me."

"Yes, but it bores you. And you don't think I had another life in mind for myself? But you know it's easy for me, so you know I'll do it. And why do you always stray from the point so that I don't even remember what I asked?"

"Purposeful. Look, you're the best person I think of to have a fight with, by a long shot. But I don't want to ever settle again for the peaceful choice. I thought Lois would've given me the same thing that you did, but I was wrong. She's one of my best friends, but it took her a long time to feel secure enough to really be honest with me."

"You could stand to stick up for her a little more too, but you could've thought of that before sleeping with her cousin. And don't look at me like you were born yesterday. You think because Lois is blindly loyal to Chloe that you couldn't think about-you sure you don't want peace?" she asked him, ceasing her own rant. "You probably don't need me pointing out _**everything**_ I think, they probably _**are**_ easier to be around."

"I didn't say _**you**_ weren't easy, I said I didn't want to make the easy choice."

He didn't feel as backed into a corner anymore as he aligned her body against his.

"You wanna talk about bored?" he said to her.

She shook her head. "No, not really." She wanted him to stop trying. If Lois could be that strong with Clark, if even Chloe could be that strong, why couldn't she view herself as strong too? She reached her hands up to cup his face and guided him to her, as if whispering to him would somehow make it easier.

"You can stop," she said softly. "Today someone said that you're a coward if you make decisions for both the people in the relationship out of fear. So maybe thinking you were stronger than me if I never let you know that I could love you without hating you isn't the way I want to be. So what you already know, and out of any of the adjectives I could label you with for having such security with that, I'm just going to forget about right now. Because I do, I do love you more than anything and no matter what you ever do, I will always love you."

"You just said that so you can get on an airplane, didn't you?" he asked, reclaiming her face with his hands.

"You know, the pilot is actually waiting for me right now," she replied, smiling a little as he kissed her, grateful that he made it easy for her to reach back for him. "You were always…either a really good liar or I was really naïve," she said, absorbing the touch of his kisses being poured on her face. "I never needed you to tell me because I could feel it from you. I could almost hear it in your thoughts."

"Is that why you let me?" he asked.

"Let you do what you want? Yeah, because I know you need to, and I know it feels good to you even if I don't get to return the favors to you as often."

He caught her mouth again, sending a provoking shiver through her stomach.

"I'm not as confident as you think," he said against her ear. "You don't have to let me touch you right now. You don't have to let me do anything."

"You still said 'right now', so don't doubt yourself too much," she teased, pulling his mouth back to hers. "Of course I want you."

He asked her as his hands encircled her arms and his mouth swept down her neck. He asked her to repeat her love, her need, and her promise to stay right there with him.

In seconds it was easier, everything opened, pressure was lifted off of her and even if she didn't know if she trusted him, she wasn't aware of it and it didn't matter. It wasn't a struggle to answer him or hear what he said to her, and she didn't manipulate him or even hesitate as her hands went to him, pulling his shirt apart and pushing it from his chest. She pulled him back against the wall, wanting him covering her, blocking her from the world that had always harmed her. Oliver had always loved the idea of protecting her and when she fiercely let him know she didn't need it any longer, it had brought out a different side of them. Still, feeling her let him be strong for her made him remember why she was the one he'd always needed. He lovingly nipped her lips with teeth, reaching to unbutton her shirt with his fingers.

Tess surprised them both when she tore her mouth from his, flinching as if hot water had been poured on her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, wondering what he'd done.

She blinked a few times, shocked by her own reaction.

"Did I do something you didn't want?"

"No," she replied quickly. "I just…I feel pregnant."

"As in sick? Or uncomfortable?"

"No, as in pregnant to you."

Oliver almost lost his patience. "Okay, do I need a tattoo to keep this straight for you? You invent these ideas in your head and they are completely in your mind. You decided when we met that I saw you as less, as undesirable and now you've created a new image to be afraid of."

He pulled her back, using the classic Oliver invasion to push her insecurities away. "If you don't want me or it's uncomfortable, tell me that. But pulling away because you create a world where I don't want to put my hands on you because of a pregnancy that I'm responsible for is ridiculous. You are beautiful and will be, every day, for the rest of your life. And have you met me, how could the idea of having you pregnant with my child not be a turn-on?"

Before she could take that last comment offensively he bypassed any tenderness and slowly enticed her into wet, graphic kisses that were literally on the edge of painful. He played with her tongue, flicking his against hers as his teeth pressed against her lips, her head pushing back to the wall. Her sighs of distress mixed with lust urged him on, driving him to pull apart the buttons of her shirt and force her sighs into cries. He flooded her with energy, breaking the kiss roughly to continue his sexual pursuit down her chest.

"Come over here," he breathed, his mouth even more swollen than hers. He drew her to the bed and resisted kissing her long enough to push the shirt from her arms and unhook her bra. She was equally adamant with removing his pants until he jerked her back up to him and lowered her onto the bed.

"Do you love me?" he asked her, climbing over her and pulling her to him again.

She laughed softly, touching his face. "Yeah, I can't do anything about it apparently."

"Oh well, good, glad we covered that."

She kept his mouth from hers for a minute.

"When you hold me and you're on me, it feels better because I can tell you that I love you. You could always make me believe anything you wanted, and I felt you and I loved you, but I love you right now because of what I can say, and I loved you back then when you took me off that island."

"Did you stop at any point in between?"

She nodded. "No, just…just felt a lot of other things towards you too."

He placed her arms over her head, which had never made her especially uncomfortable.

"Tell me you'll stay with me," he said to her again.

"I said I would," she replied playfully, lifting her head to kiss him.

"No, I mean tell me that you won't change."

She slowly leaned her head back against the sheets. "You don't want anything to change," she stated back to him. Her eyes closed, amazed at her own stupidity. "I thought, I _**only**_ thought that you would want to take it from me. It never occurred to me that you would want me and not the baby and I didn't ask you. I didn't include you in a discussion because I didn't think there was a thought in your head about anything other than how horrible I would be and now I can't do anything about it. I can't undo it now-"

"Tess, what the hell are you talking about? Of course I want the baby!"

"You may want it in the sense of not having to deal with it, and that's okay, but you need to tell me because I can't be here and pretend that I'm not going to change. And no matter how much I love you, my life will be consumed for awhile with this child and if you can't handle that, and you become resentful of that, I can't cater to your needs every two seconds. I'm supposed to be able to have your support and share this with you but if you're standing there, growing bitter and tapping on my shoulder wanting sex when I have a child to take care of, and I can't and you go elsewhere, guess how much that's not going to work?"

He looked at her like she'd just created an entire world in her mind that he now had to catch up with.

"The point is," she said gently, without it being about blame, "You knew in the beginning that I never asked you for anything and I can't somehow…not do this. But you don't have to. And you're not wrong for that." 

"What did you think just now? That if it were a few months earlier that I'd want you to get rid of it? Yeah, it's easier for you because you can feel it inside of you, but that doesn't mean everything. What are you going to do? Every time I say anything, you give yourself an excuse to get angry so you can leave?"

"I'm not angry! Please, please don't treat me like an idiot."

"_**I'm**_not an idiot," he said, placing his hand on her stomach.

"I know what you feel right now, but it'd be easier if you let me leave right now than if you were fed up later."

"Easier on you? You want me to walk away from you, from our child, because of a momentary thought I had of how you will be with me in the future? I'm not going to let your fear make me the bad guy so that you can justify anything else coming between us. I want to watch you, and I want you to let me be a part of this. If you fell and cracked your back, I wouldn't touch anyone else. But you know what, you keep pissing me off with this same argument, I swear I'll kill you myself."

He watched her looked more surprised rather than angry, and he immediately added onto his last remark in hopes of not murdering himself with his speech.

"Although not right now," he said, a miserable attempt to save himself.

She hadn't ever particularly wanted to hear him threatened her life again, but she also had to admit it was slightly amusing. Although, for once it hadn't been her primary agenda to push him over the edge. He propped his frustrated head up on his elbow and looked down on her.

"So, what? Did I literally have you for a matter of minutes and now you're going to run out the door as fast as you can?"

"Why? Because you asked me a question about my love for you? You don't think I'll need reassurance? That I haven't already? Nothing can erase you; nothing will ever make me stop needing you. I really wasn't trying to give you an aneurism, though."

"You're good at confusing the blood in body."

"And? Do you want to take a rain check since I did such a brilliant job of riling you up in all the wrong ways?" she asked.

"No, but I don't want you to think I'm any more of an animal than I already am in your mind."

"There's nothing you can do to change that tonight, trust me," she assured derisively, reaching up to him. "I'm just as much to blame as you are, so worrying about it is pointless unless you don't want to."

He took the breath from her when he bit at her lips, pushing her back and moving his hand down her stomach to snap open her pants and rid her body of them.

"With a lot of women it's almost something to nod off to," he said into her mouth. "But with you I feel like I'm almost hurting you."

"Please," she replied wearily. "Because you decided to call me 'Mercy' a hundred years ago? I don't sink to that often. I outlast you on many occasions and if you do get me to earn my nickname, it's recently been due to my pregnancy."

"Uh huh," he grinned, straddling her more aggressively, licking her throat.

He sat up and pulled her by her arm, shoving her back against the headboard. He loved the breathless smile on her face, the smile she'd always had. She didn't put up with it or even see his actions as taboo, she simply took everything he was and no matter what, she wanted whatever he did to her. He propelled himself at her, infatuated by the combination of red hair and green eyes that she had never seen as anything out of the ordinary. He angled her legs around his waist, hoisting her higher so that she would be tighter around him, a small gasp escaping her mouth as he adjusted her, and lowered her over him.

He was confused by the need to pin her, to hold her back, brushing her shoulders against the frame as he began his frantic movements even as he felt her hands caress his face…even as she so effortlessly whispered her devotion to him through her gasping breaths.

"You don't-have to," she whispered. "You don't have to force me now," she told him, his hands fumbling to grab onto hers. "Oliver," she said, demanding that he focus on her words. "I always loved you. And I love you so much that it doesn't matter what you ever do. I used to be safe to you, and I still am."

He paused, clasping onto her chin. "Safe," he repeated. "Safe is a seat-belt," he told her, shifting against her. "You are the woman who makes me unable to stop, because you are the only thing I've ever needed."

His hand ran over her face before drawing it back so he could cover her lips with his own.

"And I want you to feel how much I love you…"

His hand clamped around her thigh, pulling it further around his hip as his actions slowed, going to deliberate and impatient. Her fingers aimlessly roamed up and down his chest, pinching his shoulders the more aggressively his mouth trailed its way over her face. Her hair was dampened from the glistening sweat on her back that had increased the harder he knocked into her, his lips going down her throat, lifting her around him until he felt her teeth bite into his shoulder, her body squeezing fiercely in her release. He pushed her as far back as she could go, his hand gliding up her sweaty back and her right leg wrapped around his back as he convulsed, moving inside her until his mouth caressed hers briefly before leaning down and enclosing his lips over her nipple.

His hand squeezed her breast as he opened his mouth over it, simultaneously still pressing his hips into hers. She felt slippery and victim to all the things he would tell her when he was through. She was clutching at him, his sweat mingling with hers, her muscles aching when he came up to her again, gripping her so hard that it purposely brought on the second convulsion, bringing out the power that had always been between them.

She rested her forehead on his shoulder, attempting to resume normal breathing as a single line of sweat trailed down her back. His breaths almost reverberated down her back, stroking her damp, unruly hair. She lifted her face up to his and placed a soft kiss on his lips. His heart jumped at the sight of her satisfied exhaustion. She smiled, resting against him, feeling his heart rate increasing slightly.

"I have to tell you something I'd really rather not," she said, drawing in a breath. "I was in a lot of pain for the first three months and I didn't get enough rest. And I know you're worried about things being different and my time when the baby's here but because I'm not in pain all the time, I need-I just need, fifteen minutes and then I could be with you."

"Are you asking me permission to sleep?"

"No, I'm just saying that I know it's ridiculous but-"

"You think you have a valid defense to sleep? Because God forbid you only have sex with me one time? Because you couldn't possibly be incapable of anything less than you were before for a single point in time?"

"I _**am**_ capable."

"Yes, of telling me to get the hell off of you."

He pulled her with him from the edge of the bed frame and into a lying down position.

"The baby will probably have permanent cerebral damage because of what I did for the first four months, the very least I could do is let you sleep. You don't need to act like I'm committing an act of morality," he said, turning her over onto her stomach and covering her up to her waist. "Do you need anything?"

"Not unless you have a new objection to mascara stains on my face or on your pillow tomorrow morning. If you do, you can run on out and pick me up some make-up remover."

"And the only clothes you have are the ones you came in?"

She nodded, and then it occurred to her that he liked to take her clothes when she wasn't paying attention.

"Don't do anything, Oliver. It's not funny."

"I simply asked a question."

"Yeah, I'm going to put them back on," she said, rising only to be blocked by him.

"You put them back on, I'll take them off you."

He looked at her in a way that still made her blush. She pushed his face away with her hand.

"Get away from me," she smiled, mildly aggravated. "I'm not kidding, it's not funny. Don't look at me like I'm not already aware that I'm pregnant with your child. And I'm not a stupid teenager anymore who doesn't have the presence of mind to give a damn. I _**am**_ pregnant and I don't really feel like walking around in front of people I don't know without any clothes on even if you do happen to employ them."

He smiled as she lay back down and closed her eyes.

XxX

"What do you think about some people having the idea that women should have an orgasm while giving birth?" he asked her as she lay beside him with her eyes closed.

She didn't open her eyes but took a peaceful intake of breath. "I don't know," she replied mindlessly. "Do they assume the women had orgasms during conception?"

When Tess received silence as a response, she opened her eyes and burst out laughing at Oliver's unimpressed face.

"Come on, what did you think I was going to say? What the hell are you reading? That Tantra sexuality…crap?"

"You know it?"

"Oliver, I'm trying to sleep," she groaned, annoyed. "I don't even wanna know what you typed into the search engine."

"Is this a statement?"

"I thought you were the one who _**wanted**_ me to sleep. Yes, it is a statement to them. I, on the other hand, am confused about the definition of empowerment. And at that moment, I would have other things on my mind than an orgasm. But I'm not against having a doula, necessarily."

"Good, thank you. I was just making sure that I was on the right page in my head before I would be condemned to some new definition of asshole."

"A new definition?"

He placed his phone on the nightstand and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Are you going to die?"

"From lack of sleep?"

"No, like your mother did."

She opened her eyes slowly, turning over on her back slowly.

"Is that why you're having a heart attack? Because she died when I was born? No, I'm not going to die. You don't inherit something like that. The risks are never exactly the same."

"Why don't the doctors really tell women? Why don't they warn them how dangerous it is?"

"Because that would destroy evolution as we know it," she said, unsuccessful in her attempt to make him smile. "I'm not going to die," she said more seriously. "If I die it'll be because I do something to truly piss you off or because of something else characteristically dangerous I do to myself. But I've survived so far, this will be nothing."

She adjusted herself on her back, never having enjoyed sleeping in that position.

"Alright, come here. I was hoping to not have to sleep like this for awhile longer, but why not get a little practice."

She pulled him down to her chest, his hand instantly going to her stomach.

"I lived through Lex, and so many other people I'd rather not think about. In the moment I'll think it's more pain than I've ever experienced, but I'd be surprised if it really will be. And you'll be there, with plenty of bones for me to break. And after that, I'll be covered in baby food and spit up and who knows what else, and you'll be begging me to go take a shower so you can remember what I used to look like. And frankly I'll be begging for help so I can do that too."

Oliver shook his head in disagreement, kissing her stomach, thinking about the baby and how much she needed it, how she had always needed all the people in her life. She'd had her purpose long before he'd had one; she'd enabled him to find his. She enabled everything.

His lips began traveling from her stomach towards her ribcage.

"Oliver," she warned.

"Sorry," he said immediately, having barely been conscious of his impulsive action.

She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled. "Don't worry. You'll save my life if it's ever necessary."

**The End**

**Final Notes: **Thank you so much for reading. I had quite a powerful journey with these characters and I love writing them. I'm always my own hardest critique, but I hope I gave them a little bit of the justice they deserve.

**Important:** For this fic, I used quite a lot of Smallville's true Tollie history, but I also used something incredibly "fanon", which is how and why Oliver started calling Tess "Mercy". I cannot insert links but the author is _**Sunshine and Chocolate**_ and I URGE you to read it.

It's beautifully done and absolutely the two reasons Oliver Queen would think to call Tess this word. *smiles*


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